The Fame
by runawaygoddess
Summary: I have three lives, all of which are very complicated and tiresome. Who'd ever guess that being a boy and a girl at the same time could be so much damn work? Jiraya-sama turned to my mother: "Kyoko-san, I didn't know your son had pink hair." Fuck.My.Life.
1. Authors Note

Authors' Note!

Bonjour! I like to speak French once in a while to make myself feel smart. Although I nearly and sadly, fail the language. In this story I have decided to tell it from two points of view that alternate each chapter. In case anyone gets confused like I do, I put the name of the chapter narrator under the disclaimer. From Sasuke's POV he calls Sakura 'Hikaru', but she calls herself 'I' from her POV. The singer 'Sakura' is Sakura wearing a wig when she's a girl and Karin is only here so I can have some drama. And don't worry, Sasuke is not gay, that would screw up my idea, so he will be attracted to the more feminine side of Sakura when she's 'Hikaru'. See Hana Kimi for Nakatsu/Mizuki reference.

Au Revior, Mon Cherie! Et tu, Mon Amies

WLA

P.S. no matter what it seems like, English isn't my first language. Slang is. I'm sorry my grammar tends to suck worse than the Canucks having a bad day. It's really not my fault I was born with half a brain.


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: In case people actually read this: Not mine…or yours…know that.

Sakura

It's like I am cursed.

I passed several posters of myself with my stage name scrawled underneath in my lazy handwriting.

Fuyama Hikaru. Fuyama Hikaru. Fuyama Hikaru. Fuyama Hikaru. Fuyama Hikaru. Fuyama Hikaru. Fuyama Hikaru. GO AWAY! I ran out of the building.

It's not what it sounds like. I'm NOT crazy. I'm not a boy either, in case you were wondering. And my name isn't Fuyama Hikaru either. That's the name I use so I don't get mobbed by crazy fans every time I step out of the house. I can tell by the look on your face that I'm not making any sense to you at all. My bad. Let's start over, shall we?

Hello there, my name is Haruno Sakura. I'm fifteen going on sixteen and I have pink hair. I'm the daughter of a gay 'mother' and father who run a relatively famous beauty parlour called Cherry downtown. I'm an only child and am named after the shop. Yay. My three greatest fears, in order from least to greatest, are the dark, being alone, and lightning. I have three friends who are all obviously girls. If it weren't for my pink hair, people would automatically assume I'm a boy. Even so, I have agreed to take on a ridiculous task. I have agreed to become, for how ever many hours a day, a boy. Why, you ask? Because, I am completely stupid. So now I have to pretend to be a guy for half my life and pretend to be a girl for the other half. I've actually kind of gotten used to it. Not that I's actually want to live as a guy for the rest of my life. That's just crazy; I just don't mind having to wear pants and shirts in stead of skirts. I also have a bizarre obsession with stage make-up.

It all started when this producing team is in the shop to organize appointments for pop star/teen idol Karin. Her head producer just so happens to be Jiraya-sama. One day I walk down the stairs to get a drink from the kitchen and he looks at me. Then he turns to my 'mother' and says: "Kyoko (what 'she' calls herself since the sex change), I didn't know you're son had pink hair." **Fuck My Life**. I kind of just stared at him and it was really quiet then he started laughing. He was just joking, but apparently has seen my choir solos and thinks I have potential as a male performer. So now I've got short black hair, I have my boobs squashed flat and I have to slouch in black jeans, leather jackets, old rock t-shirts and black sneakers. The make-up people 'lightly smudge' mascara under my eyes to give me the 'tortured, exhausted soul' look. I scream into a microphone in front of screaming crowds, I sign autographs and I flirt with girls in public. It's embarrassing. But also surprisingly fun. Is that weird?

Also, I happen to flirt with boys and laugh loudly with friends to make the little people stare when I'm 'being a girl'. And you know what else? There is a reason I put up with all this shit. It's insanely material, but really I'm in it for the same reason as everyone else. No 'I love my art' shit. I'm doing it for the FAME. Surprise. Not the perfect Stepford daughter you expected, huh?

What? Every girl wants to be chased after and adored by thousands of screaming, I-want-to-rape-you fans. I just have to go about it in a kind of backwards-forwards way, if you know what I mean. This gender changing thing seems to run in the family. I also have the talent of talking total bullshit to my fans who all seem to think that I am there soul mate. I don't think that it's because I make a good boy. My dad, Kakashi actually told me that I made a 'hot boy'. Good God.

And now here I am, sitting in my limo and heading for the home of the Great Uchiha heir, Sasuke, so I can live in his house while I attend his elite private school with six other guys including him. Since my 'image' is emo/punk/rock, I have to act pissed off all the time, so I'm practicing in the limo. The weather is having an affect on me as well. It's raining. A LOT. That makes me unhappy.

The limo pulled up to the house and my driver opened the door and I got out. No time for an umbrella, I slung my bag over my shoulder and my driver pulled round back to unload the rest of my stuff. I have more necessities than the actually guy, seeing as I'm a girl.

I walked up the insanely long front drive and up the eight flights of stairs to the seriously enormous house. The door was black and had a silver snake knocker. Creepy much? I reached for the knocker and changed my mind. The doorbell looked less likely to bite my hand off. I rung it and tipped my head back. Why was there no overhang covering the front porch? I was almost completely wet and thunderheads were rolling in. Nervously I glanced over my shoulder at the sky and rung the bell again. I was about to risk touching the knocker when the door opened. There was a demi-god standing in front of me. Damn, rich boys were so much better than regular ones. When I say he was pretty I mean like stop-your-heart-and-hope-to-die pretty. You can't call him hot because he was better than that. Am absolutely serious.

Anyway, said possible god looked at me (just me. Not you) and asked me, in his sexy voice: "Can I help you, man?" Man? Oh, right. I'm still a guy. I cleared my throat and tried to ignore the miracle of nature in front of me.

"Yeah. I live here, maaan." I drawled. My hair was wet and dripping down my back. It was really gross. He frowned slightly, which was even sexier then looked at me again. YAY!

"Oh, you're Hikaru, huh?" he said, stepping aside so I could come in.

"Who were you expecting? Someone taller?" I asked, walking past him. Behind me lighting flashed setting the foyer in a bluish glow. I flinched and more water droplets cascaded down my back. Ugh, this was disgusting. I thought I heard him laugh, but a blond head poking around a corner distracted me. "Hey." I nodded at the head in the typical guy way. The rest of the blond came out from around the corner. Why was everyone forty feet taller than me? It was so unfair.

"You're Fuyama Hikaru. My girlfriend, Hinata loves your stuff. Although personally I like Karin's music. I'm Naruto, welcome to the Snake's lair." He grinned in striking resemblance to a fox and I gave my best attempt at a grimace.

"Naruto is a tenet here while the school year is on. There's him, Sai, Neji, Kiba, Shikamaru and me. My brother comes round sometimes, but mostly we're on our own. Your room is this way." Sasuke said, leading me down a hall with the blond fox-boy in tow. A sudden worrying thought stuck me.

"Who does the cooking here?" I asked. He did say we were on our own.

"Uh, we do. Mostly take-out. It's faster." Sasuke paused at a door and dug around in his pocket. "Here we go." He handed me a key and started to walk away.

"Take-out's bad for you." I muttered and stuck the key in the knob.

"Why?" Naruto asked, following me in the room. I unbuttoned my black jacket and hung it up on the back of a chair.

"It has no nutritional value. I prefer to eat home cooking." I dropped my bag on the floor next to the desk.

"But none of us can cook." My blond super tall shadow informed me.

Dear God. Someone please shoot me.


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Sasuke

The new tenant puzzles me. It's hard to look at-him as a guy and not be awed by how small and fragile he looks. It's actually a bit scary. Kiba thought so too. He said that he was actually expecting someone bigger.

"I guess the camera really does add ten pounds." He joked. "But why is he so skinny? I can probably wrap one hand around his neck."

"Leave him alone guys. So what if he's a bit skinny. Maybe he just doesn't travel well. Or maybe he's not inhuman like you two." Naruto said, twisting to cap off a beer.

"Or maybe he just enjoys being skinny and shrimp y." Neji said indifferently, entering the kitchen. "I suggest you clam up now. He's coming to invade the kitchen. Possibly for food."

Hikaru came around the corner. He looked a little surprised to see us akin the kitchen. I followed the movement of his eyes as he counted us off. Six of us could look pretty intimidating. But instead of looking daunted he glanced at us all and shrugged. His posture, as he slouched to the fridge, said: six guys with six beers. Okay. It irked me just a little that he could be so indifferent to the world. For some reason something about this guy just pissed me off. Maybe it was his slouching swagger or his smugly sarcastic way or talking.

"Find what you're looking for?" Sai tipped his chair back on two legs. He had a customary fake grin on his face. At least I knew why I couldn't stand _him_.

"There's no food in this house. How do you _live_?" Hikaru asked, turning around and letting the fridge door swing shut. He turned his head and spotted something out the window. "Awesome! My car's here! I'm outta here. Later, dudes." He dashed out of the kitchen and a few seconds later we saw him appear next to a grey Porsche Carrera GT and pull out the keys.

"Lucky bastard." Shikamaru muttered, staring at the car.

"At least he's got taste. I still prefer my car though." Neji allowed before vanishing into his bedroom. It was hard to know where he went, but he always seemed to go to his bedroom then vanish into thin air. I ignored him and went over to the fridge. Hikaru was right; there was nothing in the fridge. I checked the cupboards. Those were empty too. "What do you guys want for dinner to night?"

An hour before we usually ordered take-out, the front door slammed open and Hikaru announced his return with a few bangs and several doors opening and closing. I got off my chair at my desk and followed the noise to the kitchen. "There's still nothing there." I informed him as I entered.

"Yeah, which is why I went shopping. Please burn this." He held the take-out menus pinched between two fingers like they had some sort of incurable disease. I was irked even further, and stuffed them back in the drawer. "Shopping for what?"

"Food, what else." He said, as though stating the obvious. "What do _you_ go shopping for? Girls?" I chose to ignore him and tried to make polite conversation.

"So why did you go buy, um, peppers? Nobody in this house can cook." I peeked in one of the bags.

"None of you guys can cook. I grew up in a house with two fathers and an annoying female cousin and her scary friends. I had to learn how to fend for myself. Cooking happened to be one of the necessary skills. Pass me the carrots and bean sprouts. I think I'll make stir-fry." He mumbled and started puttering around the kitchen.

"Sasuke! The she-beast is here." Kiba called sounding slightly afraid. I rolled my eyes and started for the front of the house when Karin appeared in the doorway. I swear she gets sexier every time I see her.

"Hey, gorgeous." I said. She kissed me and smiled.

"Hey yourself." She slipped past one into the kitchen." Hello, who do we have here –oh, it's you." She looked slightly more than disgusted.

"Welcome to my kitchen, oh Great Wicked Witch of the Swamp. Did you click you knock-off ruby shoes and appear in a foul smelling cloud as usual?" Hikaru smiled nastily back at her.

"Uh, Karin this is the new tenant. Hikaru, this is my girlfriend." I said, slightly hesitantly. I had forgotten Hikaru had just beaten her for the number one album of all time last week.

"Your girlfriend? Kudos and God help you, man. You are an example of perseverance to us all." Hikaru smirked and proceeded to add extra spice to the sizzling pan. "Dinners ready in twenty. Tell the other incompetents in the house please. And if your beastly girlfriend wants some then she has eat outside like the bitch that she is." He looked at our stunned expression. "Well shit, did I say that out loud?" then laughing nastily he started chopping a pepper and ignored us until we left.

Outside the kitchen I apologized to Karin over and over. "Just ignore him. He's an asshole. No I can't kick him out, because Naruto would kill me. I'll talk to him once you leave. Well then maybe you should stay over until the police secure the area around your house. I don't mind at all, my bed's big enough for the two of us."

Endless excuses finally ending with the promise of sex sated her for the time being. That kid sure knew how to cause problems for me. Mentally I tried to figure out what I would say to him to keep him from pissing ors my girlfriend again. Nothing came to mind because he struck me as the sort of person who was so stubborn, that they never listened to what other people said when they were set on something. Great; I was stuck with the pigheaded tend pop star. Just my luck, huh?


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: The usual: I don't own Naruto

Sakura

I don't usually get angry at people, but for some reason there's something about Sasuke's 'girlfriend' that really gets me. It's probably her cowish face/body/personality; and her music. It can't actually be considered music. All her 'songs' are about sex or the kinky things she does leading up to sex. Brilliant mind we have there, eh?

So when Sasuke asked me to be nicer to her, or at least refrain from speaking when she was in the room I couldn't do anything but laugh. Yeah, excuse me for being realistic, but she is the most impossible-to-even-think-about-being-nice-to person on the planet. Although Kabuto is a close second.

"That is almost more impossible than me getting a sex change and marrying a straight man." I said before slamming my bedroom door in his face.

"Couldn't you just make an effort?" he asked through two inches of solid oak.

"Well," I ripped the door open again for a brief moment to deliver my punch line. "You won't be lying when you said you tried. Did you promise her sex to keep her from whining for the rest of the night?" I slammed the door again and gave myself a congratulatory pat on the back. Eavesdropping pays off A LOT. Know that.

I'm actually surprised that he didn't burst in and demand an apology. The fact that he didn't doesn't bother me, but you would think he's care a bit more, seeing as it is his girlfriend.

The fact that surprised me more is that six 'men' got by for a year on take-out alone. That is disgusting. They were even more shocked when I put dinner in front of them. It was a pleasant feeling to have six people praising me for my average cooking skills. I say six because I don't consider Karin as a person. Still I must say that adding more spice to the stir-fry was a good idea because Karin hated it. I loved it and so did everybody else. It's the first time I've felt feminine in a long, long time (okay, a week, but come on!).

In the shower I discovered my first problem. You know in science you learn about the menstrual cycle of a woman? Yes well, apparently I am shedding my endomitrium. Joy of joys, I have my period. It was also deemed necessary by my body to bleed all over my underwear so instead of white, they are red. Lovely, just lovely. Hurrying out into my room (who has _white carpets_?) I dug around in my suitcase that was brought up earlier and finally found a tampon. Now what the hell was I supposed to do with the applicator? Welcome to the hectic and troublesome life of me.

My second problem was that during my shower the rain that had stopped during the time I was at the grocery store had decided to turn from just the occasional far far away lighting bolt to full blown thunderstorm right outside my bedroom window. And when I say window I really mean double glass French doors leading out onto a slate tiled patio with a wrought iron vine patterned railing and several nice smelling potted plants. Did I mention the white curtains that hardly block out any of the lightening at all? Well now I have. How are you going to solve this problem? And don't tell me to stop being afraid of lightening. Asking the impossible is a little much, don't you think?

In the end I stayed awake until after midnight then got out of bed and went down to the kitchen. Honey Nut Cheerio's always calm me down. I only turned on one light to keep this late night snack binge from being noticed, but halfway through pouring the milk someone who I didn't want to see spoke from the door way.

"Jesus Christ. What the hell are you doing down here?" Sasuke asked, coming in and opening the fridge.

"I got hungry. Cereal tastes good at this time. What are you doing down here? Fetching something for 'gorgeous'?" I asked, snidely.

"No. I'm getting something for myself." He snapped back. To my intense disappointment, he didn't leave, but preferred to lean against the counter opposite me. This unhappy arrangement forced me to look at him. "So what are you doing down here in the middle of the night?"

I chewed my cereal before answering. "I have a thing where I can't sleep the first night in a new place. Hotels to houses to trailers. I get creeped out when it's really quiet so I come to the kitchen where I can make noise to scare the vampires off."

"That's not weird at all." He muttered sarcastically. I shrugged and tipped my head back to the ceiling.

"So, have you ever had a girlfriend?" he asked me. I chocked on my cereal and had to put my bowl down so I could cough properly.

"Why the hell do you care?" I growled.

"See! There you go again! Every time one of us tries to be nice to you, you flip out and bite our heads off. Just answer the question."

"Fine. I have had a girlfriend, more than one, and it was all in their heads. There's something about girls that scares me. Although it might just be Karin." I said faking thoughtfulness. I dumped the rest of my cereal down the sink and started to leave when thunder boomed. The sound, amplified by all the metal appliances echoed around in my head. I froze, tense, trying not to look like a wuss in front of Sasuke. Unfortunately he noticed.

"Are you scared of thunderstorms?" he sounded like he was trying not to laugh.

"What's it to you?" I winced as the thunder clapped again. It was right over our heads.

"Nothing, I was just asking." He said. I turned around, glaring.

"Go ahead, laugh. Hikaru the Ice King is afraid of thunderstorms! Ha Ha Ha!" I laughed sarcastically.

"I'm not laughing." He looked at the floor. "There's nothing wrong with being scared of something." His voice was so quiet I almost didn't hear him.

"So what are you afraid of?" I asked, sitting on the floor. He looked at me strangely.

"Why are you sitting on the floor?" he asked instead.

"If I answer your question will you answer mine?" I cocked my head to one side.

"Fine."

"Okay. I'm sitting on the floor because when the lightning strikes the roof and it caves in, I can hide under the table. Your turn." I looked up at him expectantly. I'm always looking up at people, it's so annoying.

"Um, let's see. I'm afraid of tigers, snakes and…death without purpose." The thunder went quiet for a moment.

"That's heavy." I finally broke the silence. "Aren't you afraid to die?"

"Not really. But I don't want to just drop dead. I want to be somebody first." He tapped the counter top.

"Go out with a bang, huh?" I murmured to myself. "Well at least you don't mind dying extravagantly. I'd rather die in a bed, in a house by the sea with my family all around me, and I can just kind of wuzzle off. Preferably in my sleep."

"Wuzzle?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, wuzzle." I nodded and whacked my head on the table leg. "Owwww." Sasuke snorted.

"Shut up." I rubbed the back of my head and glared at him, my eyes watering. But I could feel my lips tugging into a smile. He stopped laughing suddenly.

"That's the first time I've actually seen you smile. You don't even smile on TV or when you talk to fans." He looked at me curiously again, like he did when I first got here. "I just can't figure you out. Every time I think I've got you pinned, you do something that completely throws me off. Do you do that on purpose?"

"Course. I have nothing better to do but pointlessly torment people for my own entertainment." I paused in the midst of my scorn. "Oh, wait. I actually do that. Whoops." I laughed to myself for a second and a sudden craving struck me. "I really want chocolate cake. It's insane, but I really want to make and eat chocolate cake."

"The entire cake?" he looked slightly startled.

"No! My stomach couldn't handle that much chocolate. Death by chocolate, what a way to go." I shook my head and stood up again. "Well, I have free time tomorrow. Interview/meeting/performance/recording/fan mobbing free! That'll be a change." I said thoughtfully. I yawned and made my way to the door.

"Hey, tomorrow, if it doesn't bug you or anything, could I help with the cake?" Sasuke asked my hesitantly. I felt my jaw almost drop off my face. He looked a bit hurt. "Is it wrong for me to want to help with something?"

"No! Of course not, I just didn't know you shared my bizarrely feminine urge to bake. Eleven o'clock in the kitchen. Wear something you don't mind getting really dirty. My way of making chocolate cake is…different than other people."I grinned and left the kitchen. In the hallway outside my room I paused.

"Wait a second! Did I just agree to make chocolate cake with a _guy_?"


	5. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own it.

Sasuke

I'm dazed. I just agreed to help bake a chocolate cake. Is that weird? I went back to my room still trying to wrap my head around it. Karin was still asleep. Normally when I look at Karin I can't get over how beautiful she is. I didn't even think about her. Barely sparing her a glance I unlocked to door to my balcony and went out. It was cold and the ground was still wet from the storm. The sky had cleared up and ignoring the puddles everywhere, I stretched out in a lawn chair facing the eastern horizon. The land was turned pink before the sun crested the suburbs and washed feeble warmth over me. Breathing in the cool fresh morning air, I felt less confused that I did inside my bedroom. I sorted my brain carefully into two categories.

Category One:

Karin

My friends

My car

School

Other seemingly unimportant stuff

Category Two:

Hikaru

Cake

Thunderstorms

Rare Smiles

Seaside Houses

Well now everything made sense. NOT! What the hell! Why did that skinny little shrimp have a whole category to himself? Shouldn't it be the other way around? Shouldn't Karin have a whole category to herself? And why am I thinking about his smile? Oh God.

I shot up and felt the air freeze my t-shirt to my back. Water droplets dripped down my neck. Tugging my shirt off, I went back inside and climbed back into bed and shook Karin awake.

When I got up again, it was roughly ten and the whole house was quiet. I walked out of my room and went down stairs to watch TV. Someone had left it on the Entertainment channel. A video of Karin's just finished and the announcer looked all excited for the 'new hit' and want to know 'if you can guess who the artist is because you don't actually see their face' and 'she's already got two hot hits and she's just put out her first album last week!'

I was about to change the channel when a sultry pair of lips that probably would have been red if the video wasn't black and white appeared on screen. When the lips started singing I was stuck. I sat there dumbly and watched the video and listened to this girl's voice.

"That's Sakura. She's good, huh?" Neji was a notorious early riser.

"Yeah. How do you know that?" I turned around and took the proffered glass of water.

"I have two cousins who are both of the female gender. Word gets round, especially if one of them is friend to the rising star and girlfriend of the biggest moron on the face of the earth." He made a face and took a big gulp of water. It took me a few seconds to realize he was referring to Naruto and Hinata. I took a drink too. Hikaru strode into the room, an apron over his arm.

"Okay, obviously I didn't make myself clear when I said eleven o'clock in clothes that were allowed to get dirty." He said, more to himself that us. Neji and I looked at him blankly. Then…

"Oh right. That cake!" I remembered.

"Now her turns his brain on." Hikaru rolled his eyes and spotted Neji looked back and forth between the two of us. "What, you want to help? Think quickly because from eleven on the kitchen is closed to outsiders. This is your only chance to get food." We watched him mull it over. The seconds ticked by. I could see Hikaru getting more and more impatient.

"Do I actually have to do stuff?" he asked finally.

"Uh, no!" Hikaru said without thinking.

"Okay, I'm in." Neji stood up. I got up after him and we followed Hikaru to the kitchen. "What happened to him? He was like a hostile bear yesterday." Neji watched his thin figure disappear around the corner. "And now he wants to make cake." He added looking disapproving. I laughed.

"Lighten up, man. Maybe he's shy." We looked at each other for each other for a moment.

"Seriously?" Neji's mouth twitched.

"Not a chance." I grinned back.

We entered the kitchen to find everything set up. Hikaru was grinning like a kid in a candy store.

"Okay! Neji can make the icing. Not taste testing allowed. Otherwise we would have no icing left. Sasuke will make the batter with me. I put the coffee in the fridge so tell me when you're adding the moist ingredients. Follow the recipe and don't spill anything unless absolutely necessary. Okay?" we nodded. "And, GO!"

It was a ridiculously fun race to bake a cake and clean up the kitchen before anyone else was awake. We sprinted around the kitchen, bumping into each other and getting covered in chocolate in the process. Someone turned on the radio. A song of Karin's blasted through the speakers. The mood was threatened when Hikaru grabbed his ears and pretended to die. I fell silent for a second the reached over and flipping to a random station that only played the most annoying songs in the world. I grinned at Hikaru, lying on the floor.

"You're getting egg in your hair." I said.

"What? No I'm not." He sat up and checked the floor. I pulled an egg out of the carton and crushed it on top of his head.

"Now you are." I stared seriously. He nodded twice then walked over to a cabinet.

"Oil is good for your hair, Sasuke." He poured olive oil all over my head and neck. The stains would never come out. Neji looked nervous as we both turned on him.

"I have done nothing. Leave me out of this." He backed away. Hikaru glanced at the buttermilk carton sitting next to me on the counter.

"Did you know that milk is good for the complexion? My mom told me that." His face cracked into an evil grin. I picked up the carton and looked at it.

"Really?" I said interested.

"Oh, yeah. My cousin is living proof of that. Milk baths every week." He nodded and accepted the carton from me. "Did you know that, Neji?" he asked, feigning innocence.

"I know what you're planning." Neji answered.

"Oh, okay than." Hikaru shrugged as he threw the contents of the carton into Neji's face. Naruto and Sai walked in at that exact moment. There was a second of completely awkward and embarrassing silence then Naruto and Hikaru busted out laughing. I casually lobbed a cupful of cocoa into Naruto's face. Neji got the extreme pleasure of dumping icing sugar on Sai's head, making him look like he aged thirty years.

Then Karin walked in. she stepped right in a puddle of split cake batter and fell on her ass. We all burst out laughing and none of us could stop. Karin stared at us covered in everything in the refrigerator and burst into tears. Four of us laughed harder. Hikaru had run out of breath and grabbed my shoulder to keep from falling over.

"Ugh, dude, I forgot I poured oil all over you. Gross. Here you can have it." He wiped his hand on Naruto's face. I snorted. Karin sobbed, forgotten on the floor. That is, until Shikamaru and Kiba walked in. She threw her arms around their necks and begged them to do something about us. And being the pansy under pressure that he is, Shikamaru said he would. But not before Kiba had his share of the fun and covered us all in flour. So a house meeting was called.


	6. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Sakura

We were all called to the dining room after we cleaned up. I took my time. Egg is good for hair, did you know that? Although the flour took forever to get out. It gets sticky when wet. Let this be a warning to you all.

"So, what's up?" I asked and took a chair in between Neji and Sasuke. Karin glared at me. I rolled my eyes. Shikamaru cleared his throat in an uncommitted way.

"Yeah, you guys all were a little bit rude earlier when Karin fell and no one stopped to make sure she was okay. She wants an apology." He shoved his hands in his jacket pockets and wandered over to a window. Everyone murmured a sullen 'sorry' except me. Sasuke elbowed me.

"What?" I asked, wide eyed.

"Say your sorry." He said.

"Why? It was funny. And I'm really not sorry at all. It would be bad to lie." I said, folding the place mat in front of me into a square. Across from me Kiba raised his hand.

"What?" Sasuke asked.

"If that's the case then I take back my apology too." He smirked at Karin and got up and left.

"Well, I'm out. Later losers." Sai stood and walked into the adjacent room. The door closed. It was like they could sense the ever tense atmosphere.

"Hey, Neji. You know something about fixing stuff right? Could you take a look at my skate board?" Naruto asked standing a little bit too quickly to be casual.

"Sure. No problem." Neji hurried out after him.

"Wait up, I want to see this. Neji and Naruto cooperating together? Unbelievable." Shikamaru practically sprinted out of the dining room.

"And then there were three." I muttered and stood up.

"Oh, I don't think so." Karin launched herself across the table and grabbed me round the waist, bringing us crashing to the floor. I struggled for a moment and then shoved her off.

"Do you realize how heavy you are? Lose some weight." I snapped and left her to sob into Sasuke's shirt.

There was nothing to do now. I was sitting on my bed, staring at the wall across from me waiting for it to do something. Next to me, my cell phone rang, jolting me out of my space-gaze. I grabbed it and yanked it open, eager for something else to do than wall-watch.

"Hello?" I practically shouted.

"Hey, babe!" Ino said in her most seductive voice.

"Hey, Ino. How's it going? Is there anything going on?" I asked.

"God, you must be really bored. You actually asked for gossip. I'm so proud of you." She said, pretending to cry tears of joy.

"_Hey! I wanna talk too!"_ someone yelled from the back ground.

"Yeah, yeah." Ino yelled back. "Hang on; I'll put you on speaker."

"Mmm." I tapped my toe.

"I saw your newest single Sakura! It was great!" Tenten yelled. I assumed she was across the room or something. "Hinata says it was great. She went to the bathroom, or she would have said so herself."

"Tell her I said thanks. Oh, hang on." Someone was knocking on my door. "Yeah?" I called over my shoulder. A very ragged looking Sasuke came in. "Uh, guys can I call you back?"

"Sure, but why?" Ino asked, really curious.

"Uh, I have a pressing matter of… something to deal with." I hung up and raised an eyebrow.

"Hi." He said lamely. I nodded and tossed my phone back on the bed.

"Hi. How are you?" I asked, humouring him.

"Insane." He said and sat on the floor.

"You've just noticed this?" I muttered and dragged a chair up. "Why do you say that?" I assumed the role of psychologist.

"I can't break up with Karin." He flopped backwards. I nearly fell out of my chair.

"You're breaking up with her? I have just gained new respect for you." I said, nodding approval.

"This is just potential. I'm not sure if I want to, but the more I think about it, the more I want to get it over with." He rubbed his hand over his face, in a distressed way.

"Then just get it over with. Go up to her and say 'Karin I think you're an absolute bitch. I'm breaking up with you, never talk to me again.' It shouldn't be too hard. Do you want me to do it for you?" I grinned.

"Yeah, I wish. She's so pushy! I can barely get a word in edgewise and she's always complaining about every single little thing. It drives me crazy!" he sat up again and glared.

"So," I leaned forward casually, "How's the sex?" I enjoyed watching him turn several shades of red. Ino would be so proud.

"None of your business." He snapped.

"So it sucks. Hmmm, I think she need to go out on her ass." I said, rolling the chair over to the stereo and picking a CD. Something seemed to click in his head.

"You're the one who put the batter by the kitchen door!" he looked torn between amusement and disapproval.

I grinned. "It didn't really matter who stepped in it, as long as someone fell." My phone rang again. I dove across the bed and grabbed it.

"Bonjour, annoying caller." I said cheerfully.

"I'm not annoying." A put out voice said from the other line.

"Correction, Sasori. You are very annoying. How did you get my number anyway?" I adjusted the pillow under my head.

"Jiraya asked me to call you about school tomorrow. He says your godmother is principal there, so beware." I heard someone whimper in the background.

"Right…okay, bye." I hung up and turned back to Sasuke. "Listen. Tell her that you need to take some time for yourself to adjust to an extra tenant. I can deal with her if she flips. Blame me all you want, I can take it, no matter how skinny I look." I added. No one likes to be called skinny by someone they live with.

"Oh, thanks." Sasuke left. I grabbed some paper and scribbled a heading across the top.

Defence Strategies against the Beast aka: Karin.


	7. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Sasuke

Admittedly I only start going out with Karin because she was good looking. She wasn't particularly fascinating or intelligent, but she was hot and socially popular. All of those were good things for me. I got to meet important people through functions I went to with her. So when I broke up with her, naturally, I told her the truth. She screamed for a bout twenty minutes straight and then left. I don't think she cried.

"Do you know what I just saw on TV?" Hikaru cornered me a few days later.

"Nope." I answered, completely indifferent. Lately I was spending too much time thinking about this scrawny kid. It was probably better to avoid him.

"I just found out how you broke up with Karin. 'I was just using you, really.'" He quoted at me.

"I was there when I said that." I flipped the page of my book. He knocked it out of my hands and planted himself in full view.

"Obviously you didn't take a look at the big picture." He snapped.

"Hey, why are you so worked up? You didn't like her anyway." I shot back and bent down to get my book. Before I could touch it his foot kicked it away.

"That doesn't mean I can't feel bad for her. Sure, I didn't like her. The industry didn't let us like each other. But that doesn't mean she deserved_ that_. You could have let her down gently, not given her the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. There's such thing as a _white lie_ that was invented for a reason; so people don't get hurt." He said, seemingly calm.

"No, white lies were invented so the person who told them wouldn't feel guilty afterwards for pulling a fake on some poor unsuspecting person." I said and got out of my chair to get my book.

"I'm not finished with you yet." He grabbed my shoulder.

"I dumped her; you told me you didn't like her, so I got rid of her. What more do you want from me?" I glared down at him. Shock briefly flitted across his face. He dropped his arm.

"Didn't you mom ever tell you not to piss a girl off?" he asked.

"What?" I frowned.

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Double that if it's two." He shrugged and left.

"What do I care?" I called after him.

"Your funeral." He said and shoved his hands in his pockets. I picked up my book and shook my head to clear it. First he tells me he hates her, now he says he thinks I'm an asshole for not lying. What was up with him? And who was this second girl I am supposed to have pissed off?

Bored with my book I went for a walk. Browsing through the busy streets of the city I passed by a McDonalds and saw a short, skinny, black haired kid standing in the drive thru shouting an order at the speaker. I started to stalk across the street to give that brat a piece of my mind. I was at the mouth of the drive thru, waiting when he rounded the corner.

"Hey…" I started. The kid looked up.

"Can I help you?" she asked. Tucked a strand of short black hair behind one ear she stuck her hand in the paper bag and pulled out a French fry and stuck it between her lips. "Hello? Anybody home?" she asked, waving her hand in my face.

"Sorry, I thought you were someone else?" I hadn't meant for it to come out as a question. Realization, then amusement dawned across her face.

"Oh, I see. You are another one of those people who are partially blind in the sensibility area and thought that this flat chested sixteen year old was Hikaru Fuyama. Am I right, or am I right. French fry?" she held out the bag.

"No thanks. How did you know that?" I declined the offer of food.

"Oh, you know, all these really good looking guys seem to think that I'm a guy. Story of my life, y'know?" she took a bite of a hamburger and shifted her weight to the other foot. "You wanna sit down somewhere? I was standing up for three hours colouring someone's hair and he feet are killing me. I don't even have a car so I had to walk the drive thru." She rolled her eyes and found a bus bench. She sat down on the seat with green chipping paint. "Pull up some disgusting bus bench." She gestured at the relatively unclean seat next to her. I sat down and stared awkwardly at my shoes. She seemed to have the same idea.

"Nice shoes. Wish I had a pair like that. They look comfy." She pointed with yet another fry before biting it in half viciously. The bus pulled up. The girl stood and hopped on and for some reason, still unbeknown to me, I followed. We sat down on a seat near the back away from an old lady who coughed up something green every few minutes but closer to a metal-head rocker with piercings, tattoos and a bright red Mohawk.

"Something bugging you?" she asked slurping from her Coke.

"Huh?" I stared at her blankly.

"You're bothered by something. I can tell. What is it, did your girlfriend dump you for another man or something?" she grinned. She stopped when she saw the look on my face. "That's not actually it, is it?" she looked at me guiltily.

"No." I sighed. "Nothing like that. I dumped my girl friend because a friend of mine wanted me too."

"You dumped your girlfriend because a friend of yours told you too." She stared at me. "Well…um…" it was a bit obvious how stupid it was. "Did this friend actually tell you to dump her?"

I was slightly taken aback. "No, now that I think about it. But it was implied, a lot." I clarified.

"But never said out right?"

"No." I shook my head.

"Well, then you've been an idiot and I think you deserve what ever you've got coming. Have a fry."

"No, that's okay." We sat in silence as the bus drove around. Pretty soon it was just us, the metal-head and a cat lady with eight grocery bags.

"Are we going anywhere particular?" I asked. She looked at me.

"Um…no…not really. Just sitting somewhere, I guess." She looked out the window. "Hey, look! The sun's setting! So pretty." She leaned forward and watched the sun disappear behind the horizon. Shadows got longer and wavered.

"Twilight dancers." She whispered.

"Sorry?" I wasn't quite sure I had heard correctly.

"Oh, nothing." She blushed and looked away. The bus stopped.

"We're back where we started kids. So pay and get the hell off my bus." The driver yelled at us. I went up to the front and handed over the money for my fare. I looked back to see if my odd companion was following me. She was standing near the front, rummaging through her pocket.

"Oops. I don't have quite enough." She grinned sheepishly at the driver.

"Uh-uh kid. No freebies for you. No discounts either. Better get your boyfriend here to pay the rest." he nodded at me.

"I'm not her boyfriend." I answered and handed over the difference.

"I'm so sorry. I thought I had enough for the whole route, I usually do. I'll pay you back, just give me your address and I'll send it over." She said.

"How about you give me yours and I'll come pick it up." I said, overriding her suggestion.

"Uh, okay, I guess so. Here." She handed me a business card. It was white and red with block letters on it. "See you later, Sasuke Uchiha." She said and started to walk away.

"Hey, I didn't tell you my name! How did you know what it was?" I yelled after her.

"Everyone knows who Karin's notorious ex-boyfriend and sexy heartbreaker extraordinaire is!" she yelled back and started to run. Sexy?

"What's your name?" I yelled even louder. She turned around and waved and ploughed through a hedge and out of sight. I stared after her for a while until my cell vibrated in my pocket.

"Where the hell are you man?" Kiba yelled at me.

"Suburbia." I said, smirking to myself.

"What are you doing all the way out there?" he asked.

"Watching twilight dance." I said simply.

"What? Anyway, you better get back here; there are some of Karin's fans here and their out for blood." He said. I hung up at the end of the sentence and didn't pick up again. I was busy watching the sky darken.


	8. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Sakura

I was hanging out in Naruto's room when Sasuke came back in. I was just listening to him talk about his girlfriend, Hinata. Apparently she's Neji's cousin and the only reason Naruto is allowed to date her is because his biological dad was someone important and his adoptive father, my boss, Jiraya is pretty important too. Hinata's dad wasn't about to snub two famous, corporately important people, even if one of them is dead.

"She's great. She's so nice to everyone. She is always there whenever you need her and always puts other people first. It's so great to have her. I can just go out with her and watch the sun set and we don't even have to talk." Naruto smiled as he looked at the picture of them in his wallet.

"That sounds great. It's nice when you can just be around someone and not worry about what they think about you, or whether you should talk or act cool. It's nice to just…be sometimes. You know? Just exist with one other person and everything is perfect." I tugged at the tassels on a wool blanket and tried not to braid it.

"That's exactly what I mean! It's like there's nothing else in the world when I'm with her and the world is perfect. Man, its great." He flopped back on his pillows and grinned. The door banged open and bounced off the wall. Sasuke was standing on the threshold staring at us. I was sitting on the floor with a throw pillow wedged between my back and the desk drawers. Naruto looked at him, still smiling a little.

"What are you grinning like an idiot for?" Sasuke snapped. Then he turned to me. "I need to talk to you."

I groaned the whole time I stood up and followed him out of the room. He led me all the way across the house to his 'wing'. I couldn't help gaping at the insane amount of grandeur in this part of the house.

"What is this?" I asked, staring at the painted ceiling. It was so far above my head I could barely make out the pictures.

"This is the oldest wing in the house. It used to be an eighteenth century summer palace for a Duke. I like this part of the house because it's mysterious." Sasuke said, and opened a plain dark wood door that was shocking after all the eighteenth century-ness.

"Wow. This is a little bit of a let down after the Grand Hall." I commented idly, looking around the modern teenager bedroom. "It's actually a bit cozy here. It screams 'sexy-secluded-teenage-angst-with-great-clothes'. But I'm not too sure the blue curtains fit with the rest of the décor. They are way too happy." I said sarcastically. The room was brightly lit and very stylish. Posh, even. "I'm impressed." I admitted.

"Good. You're the only person who's actually seen this room. I used to sleep in one of the other bedrooms up the hall, but they weren't as nice as this one." He tugged off his shoes and sat down on his bed.

"So, what's up? You wanted to talk about something?" I asked, trying to decide if sitting down would merit a punishment or not.

"I wanted to apologize for being rude the other day. I was just kind of caught up." He said. I let the statement hang for a moment.

"You are apologizing? You, the Lord of Evil, Against All Emotion, is apologizing to little old me? Wow." Then, "Why?"

"Well I went out today and I took some time to think about it. I guess I was a bit rude earlier so I figured I would apologize." He said, looking away from me.

"What, so you decided to get on a bus and tour the whole city and think about your life's mistakes?" I snorted and shoved my hands in my pocket.

"Yeah, actually. How did you figure that?" he raised an eyebrow and looked at me carefully. I was suddenly self-conscious and realized my mistake.

"Everyone knows that the Route 8 bus is the only one with a good back seat and the least amount of people. Prime for sitting and thinking." I snapped to cover my slip up.

"I didn't know that until now." He shot back.

"Well that's because you're a spoiled brat who grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth. Unlike you, I actually had to work to get where I am now." I retorted as rudely as possible. God, what's wrong with me?

"What the hell has that got to do with anything?" he asked, his voice rising.

"The only reason you act like you do is because you had everything handed to you on a silver platter. If you were a little bit more aware of the fact that the world doesn't revolve around you, then maybe people wouldn't hate you as much as they do!" I shouted back. He looked so shocked I almost started crying. Almost, but not quite. Okay, that's enough now. Seriously, how many times can you act like you're PMSing before you become a medical mystery, girl?

"People hate me?" he wasn't shouting now. Oops. "Do you hate me?"

"I don't hate you. You annoy me a lot though." I let my mouth move on auto pilot as I tried to figure out why we almost always ended up shouting at each other. I couldn't really come up with a reason.

"Sorry", I heard myself saying. "I didn't actually mean to say that. I just keep going and then I say things I don't mean and I end up hurting people I can actually tolerate." Liar!

"You still haven't denied people hating me. I guess its true then." He gave a laugh. It wasn't even a sad laugh. It was a laugh that showed he didn't really care at all.

"Well, a few people I know don't hate you." I said, carefully.

"Oh yeah? Like who?" he turned his eyes back to me. They were cold and distant like they were when I first met him. This was the first time I had seen those eyes since.

"Naruto doesn't hate you. He never says he likes you, but I can tell. And Kiba is really an admirer of yours. He thinks you are someone to aspire to be like. Sai acts like an asshole, but he really treats you like a brother." I looked hopefully at his face. It was still stony.

"You say you can tell, but how is that possible. You haven't really been connected with the rest of the world for the weeks you've been here." Sasuke said flatly. Okay, uh, ouch.

"Well, I can tell. I'm more observant than you think." I informed him. He still looked doubtful. "I know how to read people. I had to learn. When you're a gir-" I stopped dead. I had almost admitted I was a girl, straight out! God I was stupid! "I mean, when you're little like me, you need to know about people to make an impression or else they don't take you seriously. Height is a serious issue with me." I finished. I hadn't intended to make him laugh again, but apparently my shortness was funny. It was annoying, but I had worked myself to exhaustion to get him back into a mood that he wasn't about to slit his wrists in, I didn't want to spoil it. (Well whose fault was it in the first place, huh?)

"I have to go out somewhere." He stood up suddenly.

"Where?" I asked, curious. He pulled a small square of paper out of his pocket and handed it to me. I saw the name of the business on the card and blanched. He noticed.

"You okay? You look a little…sick?" I heard his voice trail off as I bolted from the room and ran through the halls. "Hikaru?" he called after me. I kept running and running. Why the hell was this house so damn big?

As I ran, I ripped the paper card into little pieces. They slipped out of my hands and littered all over the floor. I finally reached my room and slammed the door. My cell phone was lying on the desk. I grabbed it and hit the first speed dial and crouched in a corner behind my curtains. The voicemail picked up on the other end.

"_Hey, hey! You reached the Lady Fabulous. I'm busy or in my shower so call back later or leave a message and your number. I'll call you later. Sakura I'm a-waiting with my chariot of Sexiness to take us to a club later so seriously, leave a message, missy."_

"Ino?" I whispered. "Help me."

"You know, Sakura, you are a little odd. You just called me in the middle of the night and left me that cryptic message. You need to be more specific. What exactly do you need help with?" Ino asked my a few days later in my parents' salon. My dad was re-colouring my hair black because the roots were growing out. I was sitting in foil all over my head and Ino was filing her nails next to me, getting her ends trimmed.

"Can we talk about this later? I need to focus." I said, flipping a magazine page without actually seeing.

"Focus on what?"

"Looking calm." I answered coolly.

"Ah, so it's like that, huh?" she said knowingly. My daddy was wisely, pretending not to hear anything that was being said. The bell over the door clinked and we all looked in that direction. Karin walked in, wearing a woollen toque over her head. She looked like a mess. My dad abandoned my hair for the time being and rushed over to her.

"What have you done, Karin? You look like something from the Creature of the Black Lagoon." My dad pulled her toque off. I slid the magazine up over my face to hide my smirk. Even though I felt bad for her, I didn't like the bitch. She was nasty to me even before I was famous and her worst public enemy. And I was still a girl then.

Karin's hair was a disaster. It was choppy, short in weird places and long in others and dyed black. Like mine. Copycat, much? Ino grinned at me and dragged a brush from my dad's cart through her silky blond locks.

"Dad? Am I done?" I asked.

"Hm? Oh yes, it should have set by now. You can rinse off by yourself?" he was already examining Karin's butcher job.

"Yeah. Thanks, dad." I walked over to an empty sink and knelt on the chair and pulled the foil off my hair and stuck my head under the tap. Warm water gushed out of the faucet and drenched my head. I scrub my hair and turned off the tap. I wrung my hair out with one hand and groped around for a near by towel with the other.

"Here." Ino handed one to me and I waved in thanks. I wrapped my hair up and headed for the back door.

"I'm going home, 'kay?" I called into the main body of the shop.

"Okay, sweetie!" Kyoko called from behind one of 'her' famous clients. My parents had actually met when Kyoko was still Kyou and then gotten hitched in Vegas, then to make the thing legal, Kyou had a sex change. Then I was born…creepy.

It was drizzling outside. Ino and I jogged around to the front of the shop and across the street to my house. I unlocked the front door and Ino slammed it behind her.

"Okay, what the hell was that phone call about?" she asked, while checking her cell phone.

"Well, it's a little bit embarrassing and pathetic actually." I started to explain, but Ino cut me off, holding up one finger as she read a text message.

"Hold that thought. Can I call you because I need to go home now." She showed me her cell phone. "By little brother has the flu and apparently the baby sitter can't handle it. Mom needs me to watch the shop for a few hours until we get him to sleep."

"Yeah, sure. No problem. Call me when you have time or when you get to the shop." I nodded. Sure my problems were annoying, but Ino's little bro was the cutest kid on the planet and I felt really bad that he had the flu. I pulled the towel off my head and saw Ino to the door then went to remove my damp clothes. Why did it have to rain so much?

I took a bath to warm up and ward off any colds that may have been floating around. I dried my hair halfway when my cell rang. I turned the blow dryer off and flipped it open.

"Hello?"

"_Hey! I finally got away from my brother. He puked, again." _ I could see the face Ino would have made at the sight of vomit.

"Awww, poor baby. How is he now?"

"_Asleep, thank God! I thought I would never have silence. Even in the shop I can still hear him, so I had to close the stairwell door to block out the noise then mom yelled at me for closing the door because I couldn't hear her when she needed help with stuff and then I missed a customer and then I got yelled at more and now I'm sitting at the desk in the back trying to have a conversation with you and organizes a vase of roses at the same time."_

"Do you even need to draw breath to talk, Ino?" I asked her. She laughed and replied a negative. "Alien baby." I teased.

"_Shut up! Tell me about your problem now. I'm all eager to hear it now."_ She said. I smiled. It was rare that I had any gossip to tell Ino.

"Okay. I'm not going to waste time with any sort of lead up or explanation so here it goes. You ready?"

"_Yeah, lay it on me."_

"I think I might sort of, kind of love Sasuke." I let it burst out and then I fell silent. Ino was silent too.

"_Are you sure?"_ she finally asked.

"NO! That's why I said 'kind of sort of'. Because I have practically no idea at all." I blustered and wandered out of the bathroom still in my towel.

"_Well what do you feel when he's around you or you see him?"_ she was really getting into it.

"I don't know, um, jumpy?"

"_Jumpy? You feel jumpy. Okay what else?"_ she sounded disappointed in my lack of descriptive symptoms.

"Uh, sort of fluttery and lightheaded. And when he says something stupid or insensitive I want to either hug him for being so adorable or slap him for being such a moron. And when he said he dumped Karin for me I felt really, well, excited I guess." I said, striding down the hall.

"_Wait, you were a guy to him when he dumped Karin for you right? Don't you think you should be a little bit worried about that then?"_ she asked then swore violently. _"I dropped a whole thing of roses, hang on." _There was a long pause. _"Okay, I think that you do love him, or like him at least, but he might be confused about his sexual orientation. You must make him more attracted to you as a girl, so act more distant when you're a guy and don't bake as much or talk about romance or anything else like that. It's weird if you're a guy."_

"Is it weird that I can cook?" I asked, navigating to my couch.

"_No, my dad can cook."_

"Okay." The doorbell rang just as I got comfortable. "There's someone at the door." I said.

"Kay, but what do you like about him?" She asked, just interested now.

"Well, he's funny, some of the time and polite half the time, he's indifferent the other half and the way he frowns when he can't figure out if I'm making fun of him or not is so adorable and not to mention he totally hot all of the time." I said opening the door.

"_Major plus."_ Ino and I laughed.

"And he's…Hi!" I said, completely surprised.

"_He's high? I'm not sure that's a shinning quality, honey."_

"No, I was saying 'hi'. It's the person at the door." I desperately racked by brain to let Ino know who was at the door without actually having to say his name out loud.

"_Who is it?"_

"Remember that conversation we were having a few minutes ago?" I asked her, holding a finger up telling my guest to wait one minute.

"_The one about my brother puking?"_ Ino said, not catching on.

"Nooo, the _other _one." I pressed the phone closer to my ear.

"_Oh…OH, that one. Yeah. Wait, he's at your house? Oh my GOD! I wish I was there to see this! Okay, fill me in on all the details later. And call me because I don't know when he'll have left."_

"Yeah, okay. Bye." I said and snapped the phone shut, relieve she had caught on.

"Is this a bad time?" Sasuke asked, eying my towel.

"Oh, no! I was just um, yeah, I guess that's obvious, huh?" I laughed nervously.

"So I can come in?" he asked, looking embarrassed. I blushed.

"Yeah. Sorry."

"No, it's cool. I guess I should have call or something, but I lost your number. I just remembered the business name on the card and looked it up on the phone book. I took the bus over too." He said. I remembered our bus ride and smiled to myself. After I had gotten freaked out giving him my card and stolen it then ripped it into unreadable pieces, but now I was kind of glad I had given it out.

"You can hang out in the living room; I just have to get dressed." I pointed to the appropriate doorway.

"Okay." He said. I went to my bedroom on the first floor at the back of the house and closed my door and let out the breath I didn't know I was holding. I blushed as I remembered Sasuke staring at me in my towel when I answered the door. I was so embarrassed, but the way he looked at me confirmed that he still preferred women to men in _that_ category at least. I grinned to myself knowing that I had at least one trump over my guy-self.

"Take that, Hikaru!" I said, and headed to my closet.

"Sorry," I said, leaping down the last few stairs into the hallway. "I was just getting back and I got a bit wet, since it was raining." I stepped into the living room and spotted Sasuke standing by the mantle looking at a photo. "Oh, you found that embarrassing picture, huh? I told my dad burn that, but he didn't listen."

"No, I think it's cute." Sasuke picked up the photo and turned around. "I didn't know you used to have pink hair." He added, looking at the picture quizzically.

"Uh, no, I just decided to play hairdresser one day and got into the dyes. My dad wanted to dye my hair back, but mom thought I looked cute and fixed it up until it grew out." I covered, trying to keep from hyperventilating. What was with this guy? Every time he shows up, I always manage to say something stupidly revealing about myself. No one really needs to know that stuff either.

"I see." He laughed. "That is cute."

I couldn't help it. I turned bright red. "How about something to eat, huh?"

**Hey people! I'm very sorry this is so late, but I have been drowning in test, homework etc. That was not fun, believe me. Anyway, I finally managed to surface from my pool of work to post this so I hope you all enjoy!!!!!!! If you liked it please review to let me know! Thanks so much!!!!!!**


	9. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Sasuke

I was up late writing a report for Biology, a subject that's supposed to be easy, but only Hikaru seems to excel at. Actually, the skinny little brat is good at everything I'm not in school except math.

"Knock, knock." Hikaru poked his head around my door.

"Yeah?" I didn't glance up. I lately decided that it would be better to focus on school that him or Sakura.

"Do you have white-out? My pen exploded." He asked. I felt a little bit disappointed.

"Here." I tossed him the bottle and turned back to my report, trying to figure out what the hell I was reading.

"A prokaryote doesn't have a nucleus, mitochondria or chloroplast. A eukaryote has a nucleus and membrane bound organelles." Hikaru said, reading over my shoulder.

"Did you happen to swallow a textbook?" I snapped.

"No, I wrote it on the back of my eyeballs. Thanks, by the way." He waved the white-out and left. "Oh yeah. Tomorrow after school, you might want to ditch last class or just go home early. There's going to be a bit of noise." Then he left.

I stared blankly at the door for a second then turned back to my homework. "Right, prokaryotic…uh…no nucleus?"

The next day I found out what Hikaru meant by a little bit of noise. That was actually an enormous understatement. There wasn't just a little bit of noise. There was a LOT of noise. In fact, the directors of the music video shoot asked half our grade to jump around out in front of a makeshift stage and pretend to be screaming fans. They brought in a ton of girls too. I looked around for some people I knew in the crushing mass. A blonde chick shoved her way through the crowd.

"SAKURA! SAKURA!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. I could barely hear her over the chatter of the crowd. A few seconds later, however, a pink haired girl appeared next to her. They screamed and hugged, but the pink haired girl kept touching her hair like she was afraid it would get blown off. Then I watched them push their way back over to the hair and make-up tables.

"HEY! SASUKE!" Naruto was waving his long arms over the heads of two girls who were standing next to him, whispering. I shoved a few people out of my way and finally squeezed out of the crowd. "Heh. You looked like you were dying."

"I hate crowds. They remind me of riots." I said, checking over my shoulder, trying to catch a glimpse of the pink haired girl. "Hi, Hinata." I added to Naruto's girlfriend. She smiled and waved to me.

"Oh yeah, this is Tenten." Naruto pointed at the other girl. She was older and had long brown hair, pulled back into two buns on the top of her head. I nodded to her, she nodded back. She had glow-in-the-dark Hello Kitty band aids on her knees and scars on her exposed legs and arms.

"TENTEN!" I red headed woman rushed over, flapping her hands frantically.

"Hey, Kyoko-san. How's it going?" Tenten asked her, sounding incredibly laid back for someone who had a strange woman rushing at them. I got the impression that not much fazed her.

"It will be going better when you get over here and let me fix your hair for the video! We can't have you playing my baby's best friends looking like you crawled out of bed!" Kyoko cried. I realized she was the woman in the salon who directed me across the street to their house to see their daughter. Tenten rolled her eyes, but resigned, let herself get dragged away, taking Hinata with her.

"LOOK! THERE THEY ARE!" I winced as an extra near by shrieked and pointed at the stage. An explosion of cheering went up. I watched the stage like everyone else. Two picture perfect girls came out. One of them walked, gracefully, strutting. Karin. The other one sprinted out and jumped through the air wildly, and hugged some of the girls closest to the front of the stage. It was Sakura. Sure, she had pink hair, sure she was on stage in front of hoards of screaming fans, but it was still Sakura, charismatic, unembarrassed, and bold.

"HEY! WHAT'S UP?" she screamed. The crowed roared back. The two motioned for silence. It fell like stones. "Okay," she cleared her throat. "Me and Karin," she had to pause because cheering ensued again. Karin smiled graciously. "Me and Karin came up with this idea! We're going to put out an album with songs we wrote together and today we're shooting the first music video!" the din was almost unbearable. Karin took the mic. When she spoke, her voice was superior and controlled, not spiked with excitement like Sakura's, proving that she had seniority.

"The first track will be release on the radio tomorrow morning and available to the public by twelve, and the whole album will be out by the end of the week! We had a really great time working on it and we really hope that you guys will have a blast working with us today!" I started trying to back out of the crowd.

"Whoa. Careful there." A gruff voice said. I turned around. I had almost walked into Jiryia-san, my brother's business partner. "Oh! Sasuke! Come with me for a moment." He said, gripping my upper arm. Normally I wouldn't have gone with him but I did this time. Anything to get away from this noise.

"Sasori! Come here and outfit this young man appropriately. He'll be Sakura's love interest." I almost gaped.

"Wait a second! Shouldn't I get a choice in this?" I asked.

"Nope." A female voice lilted from a clothing rack. The blonde I saw earlier straightened up, holding a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt. She held them up to her body. The jeans looked far too tight and the t-shirt far too low cut, but it seemed like the kind of thing she liked. "I'm Ino by the way." She said, casually.

"Sasuke." I nodded and turned to Sasori. "I'm not wearing anything you pick out." I told him. I've seen his taste in clothes.

"Fine then, Ino can outfit you. I have to go see to Karin's wardrobe in any case." He snapped and stomped off.

"Now why didn't he sound happy about that?" Ino muttered under her breath.

"Because Karin's a nasty, conniving bitch with bad hair and worse taste in clothes?" Sakura said, leaping over a barrier to keep fans away and bounding into the tented area. "Hi-oh." She said, starting to introduce herself to me then stopped, a look of horror crossing her face.

"We've met before I believe. It was a picture, wasn't it?" I said, holding out my hand to shake hers anyway.

"You breathe a word of this to anyone and I'll sic Ino and Tenten on you." She warned, half holding out her hand.

"Who am I going to tell? It's not like any one I know would care anyway." I said. "But I promise." I added hastily, seeing the look on her face. She shrugged and spat on her palm and held it out to me.

"Shake on it." She insisted. I glanced at Ino who nodded. Sighing I spat on my hand and shook hers.

"Excellent. Now wash your hands." She bounced over to a tap and scrubbed her hands vigorously. I followed suit enthusiastically. Once our hands were clean, Jiraya was back and Ino was tapping her foot impatiently, rather stylish looking clothes thrown over her arm.

"Alright kids!" Jiraya clapped his hands, "We are going to instruct you very carefully. We are telling the rest of the extras what to do, but we need to do a specific scene with just you two. Sasori is trying to keep Karin in wardrobe as long as possible, so let's get this over with. I don't need any more drama on this set than what you two girls provide us with already." He looked around and spotted an assistant lounging and called him over. "You can help us shoot this scene over here. I don't want Karin to get wind of this." He ushered us over to an alley around the back of our school and told me to get changed into the clothes Ino picked out.

I lifted the black blazer, jeans and white t-shirt and held them up. "You do know that I have clothes exactly like this in my locker, right?" I asked her.

"Yeah, that's where I got 'em." Ino gave me a vicious grin and snapped her gum. I looked at Sakura for some direction on how to handle this girl who apparently does not know the meaning of privacy. Sakura just rolled her eyes and looked at Ino.

"They are really from your locker. And yes, she did pilfer the locker combinations from the school office earlier, no doubt for some twisted reasons of her own." Sakura said, around her mother, who was straightening the pink wig she was wearing.

"How else was I supposed to leave my lover a note?" she asked, like that was the most normal thing to do in the world. I silently resolved to get a new lock from the store and eat the combination.

"Just go get dressed. We have to do this fast." Jiraya said and shoved me into the building near the alley. I tugged off my uniform and put on my clothes in record time, not wanting to get caught in an awkward position. When I was done I went back to the mini-shoot and waited with my hands in my pockets. "Okay, Sasuke, I want you to stand here and when I cue you, Sakura will come out of the building and I want you to kiss her."

"Say what?" Sakura skipped over the shocked silence and moved right to the shocked exclaiming. I have to admit, I didn't protest as much as I should have because the idea of kissing her is not exactly objectionable to me. "Kiss like how?" Sakura asked, still looking a little surprised. I saw a blush crawling speedily up her neck to her cheeks, tinting them pink.

"Just a friendly, greeting kiss. On the lips of course, but it'll be more like long time boyfriend and girlfriend meeting up to go for lunch." Jiraya told me. "And make sure you smile when you see her, Sasuke. None of you stoic faces. Sakura will shame you for that."

"Well thanks." I muttered and adjusted my shoes. I didn't have time for another thought because then Jiraya half pushed me to a place against the wall and told me to pretend to check my cell phone. Then he pulled Sakura over to the door and told her to count to ten from the time he said 'Action!' and then come out of the building. Then when asked what she was supposed to do after that, he said 'act like you are boyfriend and girlfriend' and that was it.

"And...ACTION!" Jiraya shouted. I scrolled casually through my text messages. Naruto had sent me several, asking where I was and that I was missing some good stuff, etc. The door opened, and I looked up, automatically. Sakura stepped out of the building and I couldn't help it, I just stared. Sakura looked me in the eye and blushed and smiled. She came over to me and I reached out and put one arm around her waist. It felt like I was no longer in control of my body. I leaned in and kissed her cheek lightly and (for some reason) gave her a grin she later described as cheeky. Jiraya beckoned us around the camera and then yelled "CUT!" and smiled at us. "Well done you two." And then Sakura had to go shoot the rest of the video with Karin. I had to go home.

Back at home I lay on my bed with a book over my face, eyes closed, mind whirling. Trying to sort it out I finally went back to my balcony and separated everything into categories. So here's how my sorting went:

Category One- Sakura:

Kissing her was nice.

She smells like flowers (perfume or shampoo?).

I like her better knowing her secret double life and that she trusts me enough to know.

She's definitely got a great figure. Better than Karin's.

She blushes whenever I look at her.

She's quite cute when she blushes.

I like the way she always smiles when she sees me.

Category Two- Hikaru (why? No idea):

He's still on my mind.

He's been very distant and it bugs me.

He's really good at making me feel like I'm a four year old again.

He seems to 'get' me.

Judging by the number of female fans he has, he's quite good looking and talented.

He's on my mind as frequently as Sakura is which is to say, A LOT.

Well that was helpful. Now I was confused, but at least I was confused and organized. Wonderful. Giving up on trying to sort this out, I went to the kitchen intending to get something to eat. Instead I stepped through the door and stopped dead. Itachi was sitting at the table, coffee in hand, looking like he had been here the whole time.

"Nice of you to stop by." I said sarcastically, going to the fridge and getting a water bottle.

"Well aren't you in a shining mood." He said back, reminding me of what I like to do to my favourite punching bag.

"What do you want?" I asked him. Taking time to control my resentment, I sat down across the table from him. The gesture seemed to surprise him.

"To go for dinner with you actually. We have too much to catch up on and I must admit, I almost miss my foolish little brother." When he said my old nickname I felt a wave of almost non-suppressible nostalgia. I agreed to go for dinner.

Around dinner time, the guys came home. Hikaru, we were told would not be meeting Itachi before he left for business because the former had vanished. Excepting a cryptic text to Neji, there was no sign of him. And his text message? _'I'm okay, don't wait up. Leftovers in the fridge.' _Before I could ask any questions, Itachi dragged me off to a fancy restaurant somewhere and was ordering an appetizer plate of caviar.

"I don't like caviar." I said. Itachi shrugged and ate it all himself. He seemed content to just sit there and eat. I was fine with the silence. In fact it lasted all through dinner and the dessert he ordered. I only said: "I don't like sweet things." Before we lapsed back into silence.

"Sasuke, I need to talk to you about something." He finally broke the silence and leaned forward slightly to engage me in talk.

"Alright, talk." I said, leaning back to disengage.

"It's rather important." He said.

"Then get to it." I replied.

"Alright." He said, then sighed and took a sip of wine. "Do you remember the conditions of the will father left before his death? That if you were ever going to succeed the company, you needed to marry a girl that he picked?" he asked, looking slightly anxious.

"I remember." I had tried not to think about it.

"Well the girl he chose seemed to have gone missing a few years ago. That's what I was doing all this time. I was looking for her. As it turns out, she died last year of cancer, her intensive treatment failing. Her family informed me that she died peacefully and was quite happy. She also wanted to apologize for not being able to meet you in person." I sat stunned for a moment, sadness almost overwhelming me. There was also an odd buzzing in the base of my skull. "You don't have an arranged marriage anymore, Sasuke. You're free." Itachi finished his wine and pulled out his wallet. The waiter appeared at our table.

"I'm free?" I said, slightly unsteady, but not showing it.

"Yes, you are. So if there's a girl you like, I suggest you get on with it." Itachi informed me coolly, but I thought I saw a slight upturn at the corners of his mouth. "Time to go home. You have school tomorrow, and I have to be in France for a meeting next week. I'll be leaving tomorrow afternoon. You'll still be in school, so make sure you study hard.

"Yeah." I said, feeling lighter and lighter with every step towards the car. It was odd how much things could drag you down.

When we got home it was almost midnight. Itachi went to bed, but I was too exhausted from our tete-a-tete to go up the stairs to my room. Instead I sat at the kitchen table and put my head down. I must have dozed off because the door opening and someone making a banging sound and then swearing violently make me jolt up. I squinted through the dark at the foggy figure and rubbed my eyes. The slim form moved with a slight limp across the kitchen. Struck with sudden inspiration I flicked on a light.

"Christ on a bike!" Hikaru swore and glared at me. I glared right back.

"Where have you been?" I asked.

"Out." He shot back.

"Do you have any idea how worried I've been? It's almost," I paused to look at the clock, "Two am."

"Oh and how long have you been home, Mother?" he asked, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow. I smirked.

"Oh, ten minutes, give or take."

"Aren't you a saint." He muttered. "Go to sleep, Sasuke." He added and left the kitchen.

"What's with you?" I asked, following him.

"Nothing." He dropped his voice to a whisper. "There's nothing wrong with me so don't even ask. I'm tired so I'm going to sleep. Later." He said and vanished into the darkness before I could say anything. I rolled my eyes. Sometimes he was like a girl.

Walking slowly to my room, sleep threatening to floor me with every step, I collapsed on the bed and fell asleep on my face, not really having enough energy to care if I suffocated by accident. I didn't get much sleep as it was, because there were plenty of distractions in my dreams to keep me wide awake.

**And BAM! Here it is. I updated slightly sooner this time... I think to make up for the very long non-update with the last chapter. Sorry about that again, to all my lovely readers. I think I made Sasuke too wordy in this chapter, but I just wanted to fill eight pages. Of course I only have seven here. Anyway, please review and tell me if I should make Sasuke a little less wordy with his thoughts... on the plus side, I can promise something a little shaky-up-y in the next chapter which will skip ahead a few months. Karin is slowly faded out and will soon be gone! YAY!!!! See you all next time! -**_**WLA**_


	10. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Sakura

I love Christmas. It is my absolute favourite holiday. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, I was busy recording remakes of Christmas songs like 'All I Want for Christmas', 'Baby It's Cold Outside', 'Last Christmas' and 'Santa Baby'. It was pretty fun. The video came out and Karin, of course, had a fit and had to go get some sort of Swedish spa treatment or something. Well, anyway, the past couple months have been quite peaceful.

"You're in L-O-V-E." Ino whispered in my ear. "With Sasuke." Well it was peaceful until now. And please allow me to point out how inappropriate this comment is because we were in the middle of an intense battle scene in our Star Wars marathon that we do every year around this time. I chocked on my popcorn and spent three eye-watering minutes coughing and drinking ice cold water.

"Excuse me?" I said, when I could breathe without coughing. "Did I hear that correctly? I think you are wrong."

"You said you liked him a few months ago! What is wrong with you! You can't just dump him! Guys that look like that aren't in positions to be potential boyfriends for very long!" she said, standing up and putting the epic battle on pause.

"I didn't dump him. We were never going out, I just am not obsessing over him anymore." I said which was basically a lie. Ino was actually right, but I just didn't want to admit it. She looked at me doubtfully. "Look Ino, you can't just pause Star Wars in the middle of the most epic battle scene ever written. Now we have to start from the beginning to feel the full force of it. If you want to we can talk about this later." I said, distracting her. She would forget and then I would be able to brood in peace.

Actually, even as a guy, it was getting very difficult to keep away from Sasuke. It was like he was a giant polar magnet. I know it's a weird analogy, but I found myself coming up with stupid reasons to just be in the same room for a few seconds. Also, when he asked me to go with him and the rest of the people living in our house to the mountain to snowboard, I accepted almost too eagerly. I couldn't resist telling Ino and pointing out that were we're just friends and that this was proof. She paused the epic battle scene again.

"Yeah, but wouldn't it be better if you went as a girl? You are spending way too much time as a guy these days. I'm worried you're going over to the other side." She said, frowning. "By the way, who did you say was going?"

"All the guys that live in the house." I said, noting her too casual tone and getting a little squirmy. That voice usually meant she was plotting something.

"Oh, so Naruto and Kiba and them? And Shikamaru too?" she asked, reaching for the remote again to press play.

"Yeah, but he's so lazy he'll probably sleep the entire time." I laughed and went back to the movie. After a moment I realized that Ino had been very sly and that somehow I had just dragged myself into her plans. I said a silent prayer to anyone who was listening to my thought waves to help me and soon.

The next day Sasuke was nowhere to be found. I was sitting on the couch and reading a book, wrapped up in a blanket when the front door banged open. I looked up hopefully, but it was a tall man with long black hair, covered in rain and shivering. He swore violently and threw his coat in the closet.

"Hello." I said, choosing not to move. He looked round and looked rather astonished that there was someone else in the house.

"Hello." He was courteous. "Have you seen Sasuke?" but didn't think to introduce himself.

"Nope, sorry. You can use his shower though, if you want." I said, not feeling the need to divulge my name to him either.

"Ah, thank you." He said and went off. He seemed a little bit distracted, but nice enough. I stared at the space he had been for a few moments longer and then went back to my book. Elizabeth Bennet was in the middle of chewing Mr. Darcy out and I did not want to miss this.

Later on (after Elizabeth feels like slapping Mr. Darcy), I was rummaging around the kitchen looking for something suitable for dinner when Neji and the other guy came into my domain.

"Oh, hi Hikaru. You want help with anything?" Neji asked. I had gotten him into the habit of offering help whenever necessary.

"Sure. Could you chop the onions?" I said, adding a bit of butter and oil to a pan and getting it sizzling.

"Oh, Itachi, this is Hikaru, our newest tenet and one that can cook." Neji nodded in my direction. I waved with my spatula and stirred the butter until it melted. "This is Sasuke's older brother; he was on business in France for the last few months. Are you staying the night here?" he asked the tall man.

"No, I have to get on a flight over to Kyoto. It's a quick flight, so I should be able to get to the house." He said. They started talking stock markets and I started humming a little tune in my head to block it out. I was timing on the kitchen clock and sure enough, Kiba and Naruto wandered through the kitchen door, following their noses. Five minutes exactly. Bingo.

"You two." I said to them before they had gone two steps. "I have a new kitchen policy. It goes like this: if you want to eat you help make the food." I grinned, ignoring their weak protests. My goal was to get them all to learn how to cook. It looked like I would succeed, and that made me very happy.

"Uh, guys?" Shikamaru came into the kitchen looking slightly worried.

"What's up?" Kiba abandon his dish washing and looked around.

"Well, Sasuke's back."

"Yeah, so?" Naruto said rolling his eyes.

"He's not alone." Shikamaru said, flinching. Just then a loud high pitched laugh echoed through the empty hall. Sasuke walked through the door and paused, seeing us all looking at him.

"Hi. I thought you might be down here." He said, not even sparing his brother a look. I saw his eyes sweep over him and he clenched his fist, but there was no other sign of recognition. "This is Ino, I thought she could join us for dinner, if there's enough made." He said, looking hopefully at me. I stared at Ino. She winked and waltzed into the kitchen and shook everyone's hand, including mine.

"Snap out of it." She hissed as she squeezed my hand extra hard. I winced and then went back to the stove.

"So, Ino, what kind of spice do you like?" I asked, knowing full well she liked extra spicy.

"Um, spicy please." She said, pulling out a chair and sitting down. I chanced a glance back and saw her out fit and nearly dropped the chilli powder bottle. She was wearing a tight pair of white jeans, pewter heels and the tightest, lowest, most revealing top I had ever seen. I was thankful for the leather motorcycle jacket she was wearing (borrowed from my closet I might add). "So, you guys go to Konoha Boys, right?" she asked, starting a general conversation about schools. Naruto and Neji seemed to know Ino a bit, and then I remembered that they were in relationships with Hinata and Tenten.

"Someone crack a window for me?" I said. Sasuke came over and opened the window nearest me. His arm brushed my sleeve and I nearly flung pasta everywhere.

"Ino says you can't come to the mountain because of a business meeting. She said that you didn't know about it until recently. Were you going to tell me?" he asked, keeping his voice low. I was thrown for a second, knowing that no matter what I said, Ino was going to get me and her on the mountain and in Sasuke's house there.

"Uh, yeah. She's right. She's my cousin, so I was talking to her earlier I was going to tell you when you got back, but I guess I didn't need to." I said, equally as softly. I didn't look at him, just in case I lost control for a second. Pasta could have actually ended up on the ceiling.

"That's too bad." He murmured.

"Yeah." I whispered as he moved away. What was wrong with Ino? Why was she screwing up my plans? I didn't ask her to meddle in my life. Keeping my temper under control was a job, so when I saw the huge grin Ino gave me when I dropped a plate in front of her, I actually had to physically turn away to keep from slapping her. My anger was over the top and extremely ridiculous, but I couldn't help but think that Ino was purposely sabotaging me.

There was little conversation over dinner. Normally I would have been concerned because no talking means the food isn't good, but I was too preoccupied with trying to keep my temper in check. It was a task that required all my self control and even more concentration than I could spare. Twice Naruto spoke to me and I didn't answer. Twice Ino had to start a new conversation, but my mood seemed to spread over the room and kill any happy emotion. Once I had cleared my plate, I headed for my room, using my homework as my excuse for my sudden disappearance. I locked my bedroom door and then slammed my math textbook down with so much force that the desk lamp rattled two inches to the left. Swearing in two languages I flung open the patio doors and stormed out. Finally I let a growl escape me. I stayed outside as the winter rain gentle and soft, dropped on my head, face and shoulders. The coldness slowly froze my rage, and I felt my skin start to take on the qualities of ice. The rain was no longer soft either, it was hard and fast, pouring over my head. I headed back inside, my mind settling and closed the doors gently.

BANG! Someone, strong and urgent, was knocking on my door. I walked to it slowly, and opened it carefully. Sasuke was mid-knock when I swung the door back, and nearly fell into me.

"Hi." I said. He gave me a furious stare.

"'Hi'? That's it? 'Hi'? You've been in here for three hours and you're soaking wet. What the hell are you doing?"

"Um, just hanging out." I said back. He gave a loud 'HA!' and turned and walked away. I stepped out the door. "Whoa, wait a second. Did you just 'ha' at me?" I asked him, not really sure what I was doing.

"Yes, I did." He snapped. I thought I saw something flash in his dark eyes.

"Are you having a temper tantrum?" I asked. I didn't see the problem with standing on my balcony in my room for three hours, it was my life after all. He came striding back over and put his face centimetres from mine.

"No, I am not." Each word was measured, but I could see something like excited rage snapping in his eyes. He was so close I could feel his hot breath on my cheek and I almost had to go cross-eyed to see him properly.

"Just asking." I muttered, uncomfortable. I had to bend my neck back to look at his face even though he was leaning down. He sneered elegantly and stalked away. "Didn't mean to ruffle your feathers." I said quietly. I didn't want him back in my face again; it was just too intense for me. I shivered. Time to go put some dry clothes on.

I was sitting on my bed trying to mediate like it said on my yoga/relaxation tape when my cell phone rang. I leapt up and dove for it automatically. I flicked it open and hauled myself off the floor and into a chair before answering.

"Hello?"

"_Hey, Sakura? It's Sasuke."_ I dropped my phone. Where the hell had he gotten my number?

"Oh, hi." I said, once I had picked my phone up again. I prayed he wouldn't say anything about the odd thumping noise it had made against the carpet. Wouldn't it be awkward if he walked in here right now? "What's up?" I asked, trying to keep my cool.

"_Ino gave me your number."_ Ah HA! I thought. _"I wanted to ask you something."_

"Shoot." I said, mentally noting to throttle Ino within an inch of her life when I next saw her.

"Are you free next week." He asked, slightly hesitant.

"Uh, which days?" I asked, knowing full well I had emptied my schedule to go to the mountain with the guys earlier. Since I wasn't going anymore, my schedule was petty empty.

"_The whole week."_

"Why?"

"_I wanted to know if you wanted to come up to the mountain with me and they guys in my house. Hikaru can't come because of business meetings, so we've got a free room. I just thought I'd offer."_ He said. I was silent for a moment. _"You can bring a friend if you want."_ He added.

"Um, hang on a second, I've got another call." I said, getting annoyed with Ino. I knew she had something to do with this and now someone else was calling me during this crucial moment. "What?" I asked, sounding as annoyed as possible.

"_Hey sweetie! It's me!"_ Ino trilled. Suddenly I knew the full extent of her plan.

"Ino, you wouldn't happen to be free all of next week would you?" I asked ironically.

"_How did you guess?"_ she feinted surprise.

"Hold on." I said and pressed the call waiting button. "Sasuke?"

"_Yeah?"_

"Can I bring Ino?" I asked, tentative.

"_I guess so."_ He sounded less than thrilled. I was personally a little ticked myself.

"Okay. Email me the details later, okay?"

"_Yeah, okay."_

"Thanks. Um, I'll see you on Monday then?"

"_Yeah. See you Monday."_

"Ino?"

"_Yuppers?"_

"Pack your bags. We're going to the mountain with six hot guys for a week."

"_YES!"_

"Bye."

"_See you in the next life! Don't be late!"_

**Okay, so I lied about the whole plot twist thing. I had this whole dramatic thing planned, but I got lazy, so I think I will stretch it out over two more chapters or so. Anyway, a BIG thank you to every single person who read, or read AND reviewed!!!!! You guys make my life!**

**My happy song of the century: Haven't Met You yet – Michael Bublé. (Seriously. It is excellent.)**

**I don't know when I will manage to post next, so please be patient with me. I will try and make up for my bad updating skills with a more exciting chapter next time. And please ignore any spelling errors, I am way too lazy to edit. Ha ha ha. Okay, I'm going to post this now.**

**WLA**


	11. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Sasuke

It was bright and early when Ino began banging on our door. Hikaru had left the night before to go to Beijing for a meeting. Why he needed to go to Beijing is beyond any of us, but he left in something of a hurry. So anyway, Ino was at our door, hammering away at the doorbell and the knocker at the same time. Not a nice way to start the day. I was already awake, checking my suitcase one last time when Ino started her racket, so it was not a jarring for me as it was for the rest of the house. Naruto and Shikamaru and Kiba all looked shell shocked at breakfast as Ino chattered away happily. I was sitting at the table, staring at the wall opposite me, tuning out the enthused girl next to me and Neji (the best chef next to Hikaru) and making pan cakes. I glanced around the room briefly for Sakura and saw her, black hair sticking up messily, eyes closed, sitting on the floor next to the door with her head phones in. I noticed that every time Ino tried to pull her into the conversation, she gave her friend a growl and a look that was reminiscent of Anko-Sensei when she hadn't slept. Someone wasn't a morning person. I switched my glance to the ceiling and Neji dropped a plate of pancakes in front of me.

In the car, Sakura slept the entire ride. She had her headphones in and her head against the window. Kiba and Naruto were trying to wake her up by opening the window and for a moment I thought it would work. It did work but only for a minute because as soon as they started rolling down the window, she opened her eyes and delivered her glare that she seemed to do so well. They rolled the window back up and left her alone. Good thing too, because if she didn't sleep in the car, she would have been a bear the entire day. According to Ino, Sakura had let her stay over and there wasn't much sleeping going on because Ino couldn't decide which bathing suit to bring for the hot springs. I was not very happy with Ino's ramblings because, like most of the people in the car, I preferred a quiet morning and a moderately paced afternoon. Excitement was not something I liked to deal with too early in the day.

Eventually we arrived at the lodge. Sakura laughed in a less than kind way when Sai pointed out that it was really just a house. She gave us all a sarcastic look and then started off toward the house without us. Ino ran along to catch up to her and we could hear her scolding her petite friend the whole way. If Sakura decided to answer the reprimands she did so in a quiet way so that none of us could over hear. I followed the servant down the hall to my room, pondering Sakura's abrupt change in mood since I last spoke to her on Saturday. She seemed to be very chilly personality wise and I was a bit concerned. After all the last time I had seen her in person, she had been very chatty and open.

After putting my bags away, I changed into something more comfortable and walked around, reacquainting myself with the layout of the lodge. I hadn't been here in over a year, so I took a few moments to refresh my memory. As I walked past the wing my mother liked to call 'No Man's Land' I happened to overhear a conversation passing between our two female guests. I paused near the door to the room where the voices were coming from and listened. I was intrigued by what I overheard.

"_No_, Ino."

"Why not?"

"We've been through this already. Do I really need to list my reasons again?" Sakura snapped pacing passed the crack in the door, pushing her short hair off her face.

"Yes, because I don't seem to remember what your issue is." Ino shot back.

"Alright. One, Jiraya would kill me. Two, I would have no friends except you and frankly, I can't survive with just one friend. Three, how's about we throw in total social annihilation. Four, Sasuke would most certainly never speak to, or look at me again. How's that? Enough 'reason' for you?" Sakura's back tensed through the thin fabric of her shirt. Her hair brushed the nape of her neck and she reached back and swept it away.

"But you are always complaining about how this kind of life is too hard to keep straight! Why don't you just give it up and disappear like most retired stars do? Vanish. We all know you've had tons of practice during school days when you were still a loser."

"Yeah, because I love to be reminded of the days when I got beat up after school for three months like clockwork. Thanks a lot, Ino. I should never have told you about this trip."

"But-"

"I can handle this on my own so butt out!" Sakura's voice rose, angrily. I reached out and knocked on the door, pushing it open slightly.

"Hi." I said. The two girls glared at me.

"What?" they both snapped.

"I just wanted to make sure you were getting along. With your unpacking, that is." I added hastily, seeing the eyes narrow.

"No need. I'm leaving. This was a mistake." Sakura said, brushing past me. "Where's the phone, I need to call my dad."

"Hey, Sakura! Wait a second!" I called after her. "Uh, there's hot chocolate in the kitchen if you want." I invented wildly to Ino before dashing after her friend.

"Sakura, wait." I caught up and grabbed hold of her arm.

"I want to go home." She looked away from my eyes.

"Well I don't!" I blurted out. Her eyes snapped back to mine. We glared at each other for a while and then she relaxed.

"Fine. I'll stay one night, but if I hate it I _am_ going home." She said. I nodded and let go of her arm. "Excuse me, I have to go apologize to Ino and make her guilty enough to apologize to me."

"Try the kitchen. I told her where the hot chocolate was." I hadn't really known if there was hot chocolate or not, but it was worth a shot.

"Thanks." Sakura smiled and walked away. Her back wasn't tense anymore. I shook my head, clearing it of all this craziness and set off in the other direction. I went back to my room and sat on the bed.

"Hey, dude. You in here?" Kiba asked through the wooden door. I kept quiet. "Hello?" he called again. "I guess he's not here. He's probably somewhere else, like the pool table or something. Let's go." He said and I heard about four pairs of feet shuffling away. Suddenly I felt very tired and I barely kicked off my shoes before I fell backwards onto my mattress and fell asleep.

When I woke up it was dark outside. I checked the clock on the wall. Five thirty. I rolled off the bed and pulled off my jacket. I dug through my suitcase until I found a sweater and left the mess on the floor behind me as I left, looking for dinner. I meandered past the lounge and saw Naruto, Kiba and Sakura sitting around the room. Naruto and Kiba were playing 'bloody knuckles' a game I never understood or took part in and Sakura was curled up by the window with a blanket reading a book. She flipped the page, reading with incredible speed for such a large volume.

"Hey man! Where'd you go?" Kiba looked up and asked.

"Go?" I asked, walking over to them.

"Yeah. We looked all over for you but we couldn't find you. We figured you went out." Naruto slid the coin into Kiba's knuckles.

"Ouch!" Kiba said. "Wanna join?" he asked me.

"No thanks. I'm not a fan of bleeding without cause." I grimaced. Sakura placed her book on the edge of the table and came over.

"What are you doing?" she asked. She cocked her head to one side and narrowed her eyes. "Making each other bleed? Weird."

"You're telling me." I muttered. I glanced at the spine of her book. "The Human Brain: Function and Fact." I read. "Really? This is your thing? Anatomy?" Sakura blushed and tugged the blanket closer around her shoulders.

"Yeah. I've wanted to be a doctor since I was a kid." She confessed.

"So why the pop star gig?" I asked, pulling up a chair next to her.

"Well my parents have an okay gig with their shop, but not enough money for med school so I'm funding my own post secondary education. I'm getting a head start while I can."

"Oh. Seems like a hassle though." I said.

"Maybe, but it's something I have to do." She shrugged. "I mean what's the harm? One day I'm going to save lives."

"There you all are." Shikamaru wandered in looking more dishevelled than usual. "Dinner's ready." He said, yawning and sauntering off. Naruto and Kiba sprang up and raced for the door.

"Last one there has to clean the other person's room!" Naruto yelled and the two of them were out of sight around the corner.

Sakura dropped the blanket on the floor and followed them slowly. "You coming? Or do you want to clean their rooms without my help?" she asked.

I hid a smirk and caught up to her. "They can clean their own rooms, lazy bastards." I replied.

"Fair enough."

I wasn't exactly sure how it happened, but somehow after dinner, Sakura was sitting on my bed next to me, blushing and looking at her hands.

"I'm really glad I decided to stay." She said.

"You mean you're really glad I convinced you to stay, right?" I corrected, grinning at her. She rolled her eyes, and nodded.

"I'm glad you made me stay." She said. She shivered, not surprising since she was only wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants. I moved closer, and leaned back against the wall, sitting with me knees bent on either side of her. She started to move away, but a looped one arm around her waist pulling her back against me. She was thin, and her stomach was cold under her shirt.

"Sasuke, wha-"

"If you're cold than just say so. I'm pretty sure Ino would kill me of you got a cold." I said. Her hair smelled like freesias and apples. The roots were a little bit lighter than the rest of her hair, but I didn't really take any notice. I was distracted by the frantic beating of her heart against my chest.

"What are you so nervous about?" I whispered in her ear.

"N-nothing." She said quietly. The catch in her voice made me turn her face so I could see it. For a second I stared at her. Her eyes, bright green, got wider, her cheeks flushed ever so slightly and her lips parted softly. Before I knew what I was doing I leaned down, and kissed her. She gasped, but twisted in my grip, getting closer to me. Her skin was cold and smooth, as I brushed my fingers over her arms. I leaned back, onto the bed and pulled her with me, kissing her harder. Sakura sat up, straddling my hips and pulled her shirt over her head. She bent down and kissed me again, her hands, tugging at my shirt hem.

**Hi, yeah, okay that was like a year...so sorry. I got kind of distracted with stuff, like life and the like. So sorry for the wait, and I hope you like this chapter, even though it's pretty short. **


	12. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Sakura

So when we got back from the lodge in the mountains, Ino was the only one who wasn't surprised by my relationship-status change with Sasuke. I'm pretty sure that she was plotting the entire time. Although, I did see her leaving a certain someone's room frequently early in the morning, Mrs. Walk-of-SHAME! Yeah that's right, Shikamaru, I'm onto you two.

So other than my gaining a sortkindamaybe boyfriend, nothing really changed...until Jiraya-sama just showed up at the house out of nowhere and dragged me off into the recording studio, never mind that I was trying to do homework. He insisted that I needed to record the single that I emailed him a few weeks ago while he was out of the country so they could tweak it and release it. So I spent the next three hours with my guitar, in a recording box on the most uncomfortable stool imaginable. You know those stools in the science labs they use? Yeah, it was like that. Ugh.

Then, as if my day didn't already suck, Karin stomps in all huffy and accuses me of stealing her boyfriend. And when I pointed out that he was actually her ex-boyfriend, coz they broke up, ya know, she flipped and called me a whore, which was a bit unnecessary.

So that was my glorious day in a few short paragraphs. And since it was time to wind down, I tugged off my pink wig, tousled my short hair and took out my earrings and took off my make-up. Then I pulled on the trusty over sized boy clothes I carry around everywhere and dug through my bag for a tampon. Have I mentioned how uncomfortable those things are? I mean you just shove them up there and then you have to walk around like that all day. It's a pain in the ass, and I have to wrap the damn things in, like a million layers of toilet paper to avoid detection in that house. GEEEEEEHHHHHH. So then I went back to the house and prepared to sleep.

But of course, because my day is sucking balls, I ended up not sleeping. Instead it was something entirely more different and awkward. Oh, and did I mention there was a thunder storm complete with lightening that started? Yeah, well now I have.

So there I was, soaking wet, cold, shivering, shaking and about to strip naked in my bedroom when some moron knocks on my door, _and opens it without waiting for an answer!_ Yeah, I hate it when people do that. So I had to yank my faux boxers back up, and my too big wife beater back down (annoying much?) and glare at whoever opened the door _without waiting for an answer!_ It was Sasuke. Um, awkward? Yeah, I thought so.

"Hi." He said, standing awkwardly in the door. I stopped glaring when more lightening flashed.

"Hi." I said back. I looked at the floor.

"Just thought I'd check that you weren't sleeping under the bed or something, you know, 'cause of the storm." He said. Kay, I'm not _that_ much of a coward...am I?

"I'm not sleeping under the bed. Don't worry about it." I said.

"You sure you're cool?" he asked, crossing the room looking concerned. ARGH!

"Yeah, I'm fine." I lied. He gave me a weird look before he nodded and turned around just as the loudest thunderclap I have ever heard sounded right above my head. I bit back a shriek and leaped forward, throwing my arms around his waist. I could practically feel his smirk.

"Yeah, you're fine. Sure." He drawled.

"Shut up." I muttered, letting him go, belatedly remembering that we were both supposed to be guys. He grabbed my wrists before I could put more than a few inches of space between us. Then he turned around.

"If you wanted me to stay that badly, you could have just asked." It was at that moment that I actually wanted to punch him in the face. Stupid smirking bastard.

I turned my face away, blushing as the memories from the ski lodge crept into my mind. Now _this_ was awkward. He was still holding my wrists. When I finally worked up the courage to look at him again (like a million years of blushing later) his face was close to mine. He leaned closer as lightening flashed and I flinched.

"You sure you're okay?" his voice was low, rougher. I nodded frantically, trying to twist away. This was not going in a good direction. Not a good direction at all. "Wait," he grabbed my shoulder and brushed his fingers through my hair. "Why is your hair a different colour at the roots?" I wiggled out of his grip and pushed him away.

"What?"

"You're hair, it's not the same colour at the roots." He said. I thought rapidly. I had forgotten to keep up with my dying regime and now the pink was starting to show. So I said the first thing that came into my head.

"So? I dye my hair, big deal. Going to spread it around that the emo-teen rocker is actually a blond? Go ahead." Oh thank God Ino's hair popped into my head.

"Your roots didn't look blond." He said, doubtfully.

"Hello-o. _Strawberry_ blond." I said and rolled my eyes.

"Uh huh." He said. "Well the couch is always open if you want it. The noise is muffled from the lower levels."

"Oh. Okay." I said. He left, but my heart kept racing. For a second I thought he was going to kiss me. I sat down on the floor and took deep breaths to keep from freaking out. Then I stripped, changed and pulled out my cell phone.

"Ino."

"_What is it? I'm about to be very busy doing, ehm, some _stuff_. If you catch my drift."_

"Do whatever stuff with Shikamaru that you want. I just need you to ask some subtle questions about Sasuke's sexuality. Like now." I said.

"_Excuse me? Why would you be doubting his sexuality?"_

"Because just a few minutes ago, as Hikaru, I thought he was maybe-kinda-sorta going to kiss me."

"_Oh."_ There wasn't really anything else to say to that.

"So check, okay? Kay, thanks. Bye." I hung up and blew all the air in my lungs out. Then I flopped face first onto my pillows. This week just needed to end. Like now. Seriously.

"So he's not gay. Like completely?" I asked.

"Yup. One hundred percent straight as an arrow." Ino licked her ice cream. Ice cream on the boardwalk in January, I ask you.

"Great," I shoved my hand in my pockets. "Well thanks."

"No problem-o. Just make sure you check next time. Like before you have sex with him. Three times in one night." She smirked.

"Excuse me?" I squeaked, freezing on the spot. "Were you listening through the wall?"

"So it was three times! I thought so." Ino said.

"I am going to kill you." I snapped, tugging my scarf up over my nose and cheeks to hide the flaming colour. "I am seriously going to murder you."

"Sure you are."

"I am going to apologize in advance to your parents and little brother. And then you will die." I said. then, "How are things with Shikamaru? Back at the lodge on Friday, the morning we were leaving, that was Walk of Shame number 9? Or 10? I can't quite remember."

"Shut up!" Ino shrieked. "People might hear you!"

"Well then don't discuss my life in public and I won't discuss yours." I checked my cell phone clock.

"Fine."

"Good. I gotta go. A meeting that requires me is in progress. I was supposed to be there, like now actually."

"Then GO!" Ino shouted. She pushed me in the back and I ran to my car.

"This meeting was extremely important, Sakura." Jiraiya –sama said in an annoyed tone. I rolled my eyes behind his back. I paused and straightened my hair, which was sticking up funny. My giant old rock t-shirt was bunched in the waistband of my jeans where my faux boxers were sticking over the tops. I knocked my hood off and examined my roots closely. I would have to stop by home on the way to the Big House to get a touch up.

"SAKURA! Are you listening to me?"

"Uh, yeah, yeah sure." I said vaguely, distracted by an oddly shaped reflection in the picture frame.

"I'm sorry, but this floor is restricted to visitors." Tsunade, Jiraiya's business partner said behind us. I started to glance over my shoulder.

"SAKURA!" Jiraiya shouted.

"Hikaru?" Sasuke frowned. Jiraiya groaned. "Why did he just call you Sakura?"

"Ummm." I said, looking at Jiraiya, Tsunade then Sasuke. "I gotta go."

Then I ran like a bat out of hell. I ran like crazy and no one tried to stop me. Then I burst through the door of the House, flew up to my room and whirled around my room, packing everything, dragged it down to my car and drove like mad. There was a noise buzzing in my ears making concentrating hard and the picture of Sasuke's face was burned into my eyes. Shock, mixed with disgust as he worked out the truth.

The shop was just around the corner, so I parked my car and walked to the house. My parents wouldn't be home yet. So I ditched my stuff and turned my cell phone on.

One voicemail.

Two text messages.

Text one: Naruto.

_What's going on? Sasuke called. Said something about stopping you leaving?_

Text two: Ino

_What the FUCK! He found out? How did this happen? CALL ME!_

Voicemail: Ino

_Okay, seriously. What is going on. Jiraiya called me, then Tsunade did, asking where you'd gone. So I told them I didn't know and they said Sasuke, whom you are completely in love with, found you out. Why haven't you called me yet? Your phone is off, isn't it?_

I ignored Ino and Naruto's messages and turned my phone off again. I lay face down on my bed. Eventually I had to roll over in order to breathe properly. I stared at my ceiling for a time, halfway between relief and a nervous breakdown. What the _hell_ was I going to do now? The house phone rang, so I reluctantly dragged myself down the stairs to answer it.

"Yeah, what?"

"_It's me."_ Ino said.

"I know, I have caller ID."

"_You are ignoring me. Not cool."_ She said. _"What happened?"_

"Jiraiya was being stupid and yelling my name all over the place." I said. I avoided the mirror.

"_So what are you going to do?"_ she asked softly. I knew what she meant. What was I going to do about Sasuke? I had no idea, but I knew what I was going to do about my life.

"I just thought of something. Keep an eye out, and tell my parents that I'm taking a vacation for a month or so. I have some serious shit to get done."

"_Um, okay. Are you going to tell me what you're doing?"_

"Not a chance. I love you and all, but you kind of couldn't keep a secret if your life depended on it."

"_Fine."_

I hung up.

So I ran back up to my room, grabbed the bags I never unpacked and tossed them back in the car trunk. I stripped off my boy clothes, left them strewn across my floor, put on a bra and underwear and a t-shirt and a tight, tight skirt. Then I gunned the engine and drove off into a literal sunset. And I wasn't sure if I was returning yet.

**So this was like a whole page longer...and the update was a tad faster...I think... But anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed and stuck around. I think the story is ending soon.**

**Peace Out.**


	13. The End

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

**Yeah, so, I think some of you may be confused just a little. This chapter is not following the normal configuration and is written in the third person.**

It was a chilly November evening. The cul-de-sac was backlit by the early setting sun turning trees into skeletal silhouettes. Sasuke slammed his car door and slung his backpack over one shoulder, sorting through his keys for the one that would open his front door. The silver snake knocker bared its fangs at him like always. He unlocked the door, locked it behind him and dropped his bag just inside the door. He tossed his keys on the side table and went to the kitchen.

The house was silent, empty for three years past, and cold. He opened the fridge and slammed it shut again. The kitchen was not his favourite room in the house. It never had been. The other room he hated was the one on the second floor, with the French doors and the patio. He clenched his jaw and left the kitchen. He needed a walk.

Sakura tapped her pencil impatiently against the stack of paper. She stared at her professor, who was droning on and on and on and on about something. The something was vaguely important, but she couldn't really bring herself to pay attention. She couldn't really focus. Her hair, pink, and shoulder length now was pulled back, except a few flyaway strands that were tickling her neck. She brushed them away as the professor finally switched off his PowerPoint presentation and dismissed them. She tossed her books away, cursed herself for taking a late class, and made a beeline for the door. Her car was in the shop so she had to take the bus. She started running. Stupid bus stop for being across fucking campus. She growled as her bag thumped against her back, pulling on her shoulders. She stumbled, dodged a frat boy and rounded the corner. The bus stop, a few blocks away, was light up by a street lamp. She ran desperately. The bus was just about the pull away.

"WAIT!" she shouted, pulling even with it. The bus stopped and the doors hissed open. Panting, she dug in her pocket for change and paid the driver before sitting down at the back. She slumped in her seat and pulled out her cell phone and checked her messages.

_Ino: WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU? God, you take so long. Would you hurry up and get your ass over to this party?_

Sakura: Hell-o. Had a late class today. Which I told you about. Give me an hour.

_Ino: Fine._

Sakura rolled her eyes and settled back to wait for her stop.

Sasuke ground his teeth. He had been about to go for a walk to clear his head when Naruto and Shikamaru pulled up and started having a bitch fit because he wasn't going to some stupid function Shikamaru's mother was throwing to test his girlfriend's etiquette.

Now he was standing in a room full of classy people when he could be out getting drunk. He glared at his tumbler of scotch and then at Shikamaru, who was across the room with his arm around his curvy blonde girlfriend. Naruto was somewhere, hiding from his girlfriends' family and the rest of the guys were off too, doing something more interesting. He signed and looked around. The blonde girlfriend was checking her phone whenever Shikamaru's mother had her back turned. She frowned and typed furiously. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, drained his glass and went out to the garden of the five star hotel where the party was being held.

"Oh my – fuck, Ino. I just got here alright? Give a little warning before you demand my presence at a shindig like this. I need prep time." Someone was on their cell phone, talking as they walked past the place Sasuke was sitting in the dark. The gentle clack of stilettos stopped. "Well if you'd shut the hell up and let me hang up I would come and rescue you from your boyfriends crazed mother. Chill out, I'm walking inside now."

Sasuke got up. The voice was familiar. He rounded the corner just in time to see a slim leg and white ballet style heel disappear around the corner. He pushed through the crowds of people, trying to catch a glimpse.

Sakura, paused halfway across the room, bending down to fix the white satin ribbons tied at the top of her calf. She stood up, lifting on hand to her hair, which felt as though it would topple over. Then she scanned the room, spotted Ino and made a beeline.

"Finally." Ino hissed under her breath. "I thought you'd never get here. Oh, Mrs. Nara, this is my friend Sakura. She's studying to be a doctor." Ino smiled charmingly at Shikamaru's mother. "Better you than me. See you later, Skippy." She whispered as she excused herself, and touched Shikamaru's arm.

"Bitch." Sakura hissed back. Then she spotted something that made her heart stop for a split second and stutter back to life and an unhealthily irregular beat. She managed to answer the questions pelted at her well enough, but every so often she caught sight of him again. She finally got away, using the ladies room as her excuse and snagged a flute of champagne off a tray. She sipped it casually as she walked around, people watching. And then suddenly there he was, across the dance floor, glass in hand, tux pressed to perfection, trading snide remarks with Neji Hyuuga. Sakura met his eyes and tossed the almost full champagne flute back in one.

Sasuke saw her the same moment she saw him. The girl he had hunted for through the crowd, more than once, barely fifty feet away, staring across the room. It would be so easy to leave the stupid Hyuuga here, cross the room and get close enough to touch her. He watched the smooth line of her neck as she tossed back the champagne in a less than elegant way, and discard her glass on a table nearby. She looked back up and her green eyes halted uncertainly on him again. Her champagne coloured dress sparkled lightly in the candle light, and her cheeks were flushed. She smiled ever so slightly, so he nodded. Her small smile vanished and she turned away. Sasuke's stomach dropped. Her dress, backless, revealed her tense shoulders as she walked away.

"Where are you going?" Neji asked but Sasuke ignored him.

It wasn't over. There hadn't been time to end it. Not properly. Why the hell did she keep leaving?

Sakura bit her lip and pushed through the crowd. She saw Ino, a face like thunder coming after her, slipped between two rather large men, ducked under the stairs and twirled behind a potted plant. She bowed her head, finished her turn and ended up next to enormous glass doors leading out to the softly lit garden she had passed on her way in. She had a sudden urge to see the flowers.

The garden really was beautiful. As Sakura sat on the edge of the fountain, she crossed her legs and leaned back on her hands, tipping her head back to the cloudless, cold November sky. The stars winked at her. She spotted the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia. Sighing she brought her gaze back to earth and looked into the fountain. Coins littered the bottom, polished by the constant stream of water, lit up in the soft lights placed around in the flowers and hanging from trees.

"That escape from Ino was pretty good." Sasuke commented. He walked over to the fountain where she was sitting and looked down at her. She raised her head, lips parting softly in surprise.

"Um, well, I've had a lot of practice." She said blushing. They fell silent. The quite shower of the fountain and a cool breeze rushed through the garden. Sakura shivered and crossed her arms. Her breath formed clouds in front of her.

"Are you taking and university classes?" she asked. The silence was killing her. Sasuke looked back at her.

"Yeah, a couple."

"Oh."

"So you're still going for doctor?"

"Yeah. I am." Sakura looked at him and his stomach lurched again. "I didn't think you'd remember."

Sasuke stared at her. "Where did you go?" he asked. "For three years, where the hell did you go?" he's meant to ask why.

"Places. Australia, actually." She said. she's meant to say why.

There was silence again.

Sakura felt like she was going to scream if the silence went on for much longer.

"It had to end you know. I couldn't keep going like that."

"Like what?" he asked quietly.

"Living three lives?" she laughed, her breath freezing in the air. "I thought I was going insane."

"Then why do it?"

"I told you. I needed money for schooling. I didn't want my parents to have to work overtime and have huge bills because I have an expensive goal." She lifted her face to the sky. "Med school is expensive."

"Why?" the question burst from his lips before he could stop it. "Why did you leave without saying good bye?"

Sakura looked up, breath catching in her throat. "You. I didn't say good bye because of you." she felt like her chest might explode. "You, when you found out, you looked so disgusted with me."

"So you ran away." He snapped. "You never ran from anything before. What the hell made you run then?"

Sakura leapt to her feet. "I ran because I couldn't stand the thought that you were alive in the world hating me."

She was so close he could see the goose bumps on her arms and see her hands shaking from cold or anger.

"I ran away because I couldn't stand the thought of being hated by you. not while I was in love with you."

"You thought I hated you? that's why you ran away. To Australia. You were trying to avoid me. In Australia. I can't believe it."

"Very funny. Yes I went to Australia. Only because while I went to school there I managed to forget about you for a few hours every day. Then I came back and before my first year is even over, here you are." She burst out. And suddenly the words couldn't come fast enough. "And how do you think it felt when I realized that those three Australian years were wasted because I am still totally in love with you? do you have any idea how frustrating that is?"

"Back up. You still love me?"

"I –" Sakura spluttered "Yes, I do. So?"

"Why the hell didn't you just say so?" Sasuke asked.

"Excuse me?" Sakura glared at him. "What do you mean why didn't I tell you? Um, hello, it's harder than it looks. _You_ try it."

"I still love you."

"Uh huh." Sakura snorted. He slid his hands over his cold arms. She felt tingles up her spine. "Are you being serious? Because if you're not I am actually going to slap you."

"I'm always serious, Sakura" Sasuke smirked. And before she had a chance to reply he bent his head, tilted hers up and kissed her. She pushed him away.

"Oh so we're doing this now, are we?"

"Yes, we are."

"Fine." She started to lean into him and paused. "Give me your jacket. It's cold out here."

"You're cold? I can fix that easily." He smirked and drew her deeper into the garden where the lights didn't quite reach. "Try not to make too much noise." He whispered

"Shut up, Sasuke. You kind of talk too much." Sakura said, throwing her arms around his neck, taking him by surprise, kissing him as they fell back into the soft, icy November grass.

**AAAAAHHHHHHHH! Kay, that's all, folks! So I finally finished a story! CELEBRATE! I hope you guys enjoyed the story. I am not actually sure I like the idea, but that's just me. At least I stuck to it though, unlike the other stuff I have up here, which just kind of died...so don't read them because they suck.**

**TO: EVERYONE,**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing. You guys are awesome and I love you all. Forever.**

**Kpcebai**

**.WICKEDLITTLEANGEL.**


	14. NOTE: Poll

HEY GUYS!

So, awkward update here...hahaha. yeah, so I had these two ideas and I'm not sure if I should post them. I wrote a summary and made a poll, so it would really help me out if you guys could check it out on my profile page. I'll put the stuff here two in case.

PLEASE VOTE!

Here are the summaries for my stories in my new poll (please check it out!)

**Done That, Been There**: Rated M. Genre: Romance/Humour/Drama Pairings: sasuxsaku, nejixten, naruxhina, suixka, kibaxino  
_It's really Ino's fault. If she hadn't been out clubbing none of this would have happened. Sakura would never have been 'the other woman', Karin would have never fallen head over heels, Tenten would have become a lesbian monk in the mountains of Tibet and Hinata wouldn't have realized that fairy tales are bullshit and real life is so much better._

**This Kind of Stuff**: Rated M. Genre: Romance/Drama Pairings: sasuxsaku, nejixten, naruxhina, shikaxino  
_Eight people. Eight lives. No control. Because not everyone has to deal with this kind of stuff._


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